JBS paid $11 million in ransom after cyberattack, company says

Federal agencies recommend not paying hackers ransom.

Meat supplier JBS, which was the victim of a ransomware attack over Memorial Day weekend, paid $11 million in bitcoins to the hackers that penetrated their system, the company announced Wednesday night. "This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally," JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira said in a statement. "However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers." The company said it paid the ransom to "mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated." According to the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, ransomware is a type of malware that shuts down a company's computer infrastructure with hackers demanding payment to unlock the system.