Iowa farm cooperative hit by ransomware, systems go offline

A ransomware attack has forced a cooperative of Iowa corn and soy farmers to take their computer systems offline

A ransomware attack by the BlackMatter gang forced New Cooperative, an association of Iowa corn and soy farmers, to take their systems offline but it said it created workarounds to receive grain and distribute feed, a person close to the business said.

Member-owned New Cooperative said in a statement that the attack was “successfully contained” and that it had quickly notified law enforcement. It said it took its systems offline out of “an abundance of caution” and was working with data security professionals to quickly remedy the situation. It did not specify when the ransomware was activated.

The attack hit just as Iowa's corn and soy harvesting is getting under way,

Security researcher Allan Liska of Recorded Future said the criminals demanded a $5.9 million ransom for a decryptor key to unlock files they scrambled. He said a sample of their malware was uploaded to a research site either late Friday or early Saturday.