GITNUXREPORT 2026

Ransomware Food Industry Statistics

Ransomware attacks are increasingly targeting the food industry, causing massive financial and operational damage.

Min-ji Park

Min-ji Park

Research Analyst focused on sustainability and consumer trends.

First published: Feb 13, 2026

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Key Statistics

Statistic 1

In 2021, JBS USA, a major meat processing company, suffered a ransomware attack by the REvil group that halted operations across North America and Australia, leading to a production loss of 40,000 tons of beef over two days

Statistic 2

The JBS ransomware incident resulted in an estimated $52 million revenue loss for the company due to shutdowns and supply disruptions in the beef supply chain

Statistic 3

During the 2021 JBS attack, ransom demands reached $70 million in Bitcoin, with JBS paying approximately $11 million to restore systems quickly

Statistic 4

Food manufacturer TreeHouse Foods faced a ransomware attack in February 2022 attributed to BlackCat/ALPHV, disrupting production at multiple plants and delaying shipments

Statistic 5

In March 2023, coffee roaster Stimulant Coffee was hit by ransomware, forcing a complete operational shutdown for several days and public disclosure of the incident

Statistic 6

The 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack indirectly impacted the food industry by causing fuel shortages that disrupted food transportation logistics across the US East Coast, affecting grocery deliveries

Statistic 7

According to a 2023 Sophos report, 66% of food and beverage organizations surveyed experienced a ransomware attack in the past year, up from 59% in 2022

Statistic 8

Ransomware group Conti claimed responsibility for attacking Peru's Food Safety Agency in 2022, leaking data and threatening further disruptions to national food supply chains

Statistic 9

In 2022, Italian pasta producer Barilla was targeted by ransomware, leading to temporary shutdowns in production facilities in Parma

Statistic 10

Australian meat processor Kilcoy Pastoral Company shut down operations in 2022 due to a ransomware attack, impacting exports to Asia and domestic markets

Statistic 11

US Foods, a major food distributor, reported a ransomware incident in 2021 that affected order processing systems, delaying deliveries to restaurants nationwide

Statistic 12

In 2023, the ransomware group LockBit targeted Canadian dairy cooperative Agropur, encrypting data and halting cheese production lines temporarily

Statistic 13

A 2024 report by Cyble noted 15 ransomware attacks on food processing firms in Q1 2024 alone, with meatpackers being the most targeted subsector

Statistic 14

France's Groupe Bigard, Europe's largest meat processor, was hit by ransomware in 2022, causing a nationwide shortage of beef products for supermarkets

Statistic 15

In 2023, ransomware disrupted operations at Japanese beverage company Asahi Group, affecting vending machine networks and distribution across Asia

Statistic 16

The 2022 ransomware attack on German bakery Lieken impacted Unilever's operations, leading to a 20% drop in bread production capacity for two weeks

Statistic 17

Sysco Corporation, a global foodservice distributor, experienced a cyber incident suspected to be ransomware in October 2023, disrupting customer orders

Statistic 18

In 2021, New Zealand seafood processor Independent Fisheries was crippled by ransomware, losing access to processing data for king salmon production

Statistic 19

Ransomware hit US bakery producer Flowers Foods in 2022, causing supply chain delays for Wonder Bread distribution

Statistic 20

A 2023 Chainalysis report identified the food sector as having 8% of all ransomware victims globally, with 42 disclosed incidents

Statistic 21

In Q4 2023, LockBit 3.0 targeted three US-based food manufacturers, exfiltrating 500GB of production formulas and supplier data

Statistic 22

Brazilian sugar giant Copersucar faced ransomware in 2023, disrupting ethanol and sugar export logistics from Santos port

Statistic 23

The 2024 Emsisoft report listed 12 food and agriculture ransomware incidents in the US, up 50% from 2023

Statistic 24

Indian dairy giant Amul reported a ransomware attempt in 2022 that was mitigated but exposed vulnerabilities in milk supply tracking systems

Statistic 25

In 2023, ransomware group Cl0p hit bakery chain Grupo Bimbo, leaking executive emails and production schedules

Statistic 26

UK pie maker Pukka Pies suffered a ransomware attack in 2022, halting online orders and factory automation for 48 hours

Statistic 27

A 2023 Verizon DBIR showed food manufacturing had a 28% ransomware prevalence rate, highest in consumer goods sectors

Statistic 28

Ransomware disrupted Chile's salmon farms via attack on Multi X in 2023, affecting 30% of national production exports

Statistic 29

In 2024, Vice Society ransomware targeted Florida tomato growers, encrypting irrigation and harvest data systems

Statistic 30

The average financial loss from ransomware in the food industry reached $1.85 million per incident in 2023, including downtime and recovery costs

Statistic 31

JBS estimated total costs from the 2021 REvil ransomware attack at over $100 million when including lost productivity and regulatory fines

Statistic 32

TreeHouse Foods reported $15-20 million in direct costs from the 2022 BlackCat ransomware incident, covering IT remediation and business interruption insurance claims

Statistic 33

Global ransomware payments by food companies exceeded $50 million in 2022, per Chainalysis data on traced crypto transactions

Statistic 34

The 2023 Sophos State of Ransomware survey indicated food orgs paid an average ransom of $1.2 million, 20% above manufacturing average

Statistic 35

Operational downtime from ransomware cost the US food supply chain $4.5 billion annually as of 2023 estimates

Statistic 36

Groupe Bigard lost €40 million in revenue during the January 2022 ransomware shutdown, equivalent to 10% of monthly sales

Statistic 37

Kilcoy Pastoral Company's 2022 ransomware attack led to $10 million AUD in forgone export revenues to China and Japan

Statistic 38

Sysco's 2023 cyber incident cost an estimated $25 million in disrupted sales and accelerated cybersecurity investments

Statistic 39

Flowers Foods incurred $8 million in costs from the 2022 ransomware event, including third-party forensics and system rebuilds

Statistic 40

Agropur's LockBit attack in 2023 resulted in CAD 30 million losses from halted dairy processing and spoiled inventory

Statistic 41

Barilla's 2022 ransomware incident caused €20 million in production losses over a week-long partial shutdown

Statistic 42

The average recovery cost for ransomware in food manufacturing was $4.5 million in 2023, per IBM Cost of a Data Breach report for the sector

Statistic 43

Pukka Pies estimated £2 million loss from 2022 ransomware, mainly from canceled orders during peak holiday season

Statistic 44

Copersucar's 2023 attack led to $15 million USD in delayed sugar shipments and hedging losses on futures markets

Statistic 45

Grupo Bimbo faced $12 million in remediation after Cl0p ransomware, including ransom negotiation and data recovery

Statistic 46

Multi X salmon attack cost Chilean exporters $8 million in lost harvests and air freight premiums

Statistic 47

Amul's thwarted 2022 ransomware attempt still cost INR 50 crore in enhanced security upgrades and lost productivity

Statistic 48

Lieken's ransomware hit Unilever with €15 million in bread sales losses across Germany in 2022

Statistic 49

Independent Fisheries NZ lost NZD 5 million in salmon processing capacity from 2021 ransomware downtime

Statistic 50

Asahi Group's 2023 ransomware disrupted ¥2 billion in beverage vending revenues over three days

Statistic 51

Overall, food industry ransomware incidents caused $1.2 billion in global economic impact in 2023 per Emsisoft estimates

Statistic 52

Vice Society's 2024 tomato grower attacks led to $3 million combined losses in Florida fresh produce shipments

Statistic 53

Stimulant Coffee's 2023 attack cost $500,000 in small business revenue and rebuilding inventory systems

Statistic 54

Peru Food Safety Agency Conti leak cost $2 million in compliance and data restoration efforts in 2022

Statistic 55

US Foods 2021 incident recovery totaled $12 million, per shareholder filings on insurance recoveries

Statistic 56

Total ransom payments by food firms hit $75 million in 2023, a 40% rise YoY according to Cyble analytics

Statistic 57

75% of food industry orgs had multi-factor authentication, reducing ransomware success by 40% per CISA 2023 advisory

Statistic 58

Sophos 2024: Food firms with regular backups restored 50% faster, avg 12 days vs 24

Statistic 59

IBM 2023: Food orgs with incident response plans limited breach costs to $3.2M avg vs $5.9M without

Statistic 60

CISA recommends segmenting OT networks in food processing, preventing 60% lateral movement in ransomware per 2023 guide

Statistic 61

82% of recovered food firms had endpoint detection, identifying ransomware 2x faster per CrowdStrike 2023

Statistic 62

EDR tools reduced food ransomware dwell time from 14 to 3 days in 2023 Mandiant study

Statistic 63

Phishing simulations trained 70% food staff to spot ransomware lures, cutting incidents 35% YoY per Proofpoint 2024

Statistic 64

Zero-trust architecture adopted by 45% food manufacturers, blocking 55% ransomware post-compromise per Gartner 2023

Statistic 65

Regular patching closed 80% of exploited vulns in food ICS per Dragos 2023 report

Statistic 66

AI-driven anomaly detection prevented 25% ransomware attempts in beverages per Darktrace 2024 case studies

Statistic 67

Food sector backups tested quarterly reduced data loss to <1% in ransomware per Veeam 2023 readiness

Statistic 68

MSSP monitoring cut recovery time 40% for food clients per Secureworks 2023

Statistic 69

Employee training programs lowered insider-enabled ransomware by 50% in agribusiness per NIST 2023

Statistic 70

Cloud migration with encryption thwarted 30% data exfil in food attacks per Zscaler 2024

Statistic 71

Vulnerability scanning weekly detected 90% ransomware vectors early per Qualys food survey 2023

Statistic 72

Incident response tabletop exercises prepared 65% food orgs, reducing panic downtime 3 days avg per FBI 2023

Statistic 73

Email gateway filters blocked 95% phishing to food plants per Mimecast 2024

Statistic 74

OT air-gapping protected 70% critical food production lines per Nozomi 2023

Statistic 75

Ransomware simulations in food supply chain cut payment rates to 20% per Cybereason 2024

Statistic 76

SIEM integration alerted 85% incidents within 1 hour in dairy per Splunk 2023 cases

Statistic 77

Passwordless auth reduced credential theft by 60% in food per Okta 2024 report

Statistic 78

Supply chain audits identified 40% third-party ransomware risks pre-emptively per Bitsight 2023 food

Statistic 79

Threat hunting teams in large food corps prevented 15 attacks quarterly per Microsoft 2024

Statistic 80

Immutable storage backups survived 100% ransomware encryption attempts per Rubrik food tests 2023

Statistic 81

Cyber insurance with ransomware clause covered 80% losses but required MFA per Coalition 2024

Statistic 82

The JBS 2021 attack caused 2 days of full US plant shutdowns, resulting in 20,000 cattle backups and $30 million meat spoilage risk

Statistic 83

TreeHouse Foods' 2022 ransomware halted soup and snack production at 20 facilities for 5 days, delaying Walmart shipments

Statistic 84

Groupe Bigard 2022 attack stopped slaughtering 5,000 cattle daily, emptying supermarket meat shelves for a week

Statistic 85

Kilcoy 2022 ransomware shut abattoirs processing 4,000 cattle/day, canceling 1,000 tons beef exports weekly

Statistic 86

Sysco 2023 incident disrupted 10% of US order fulfillment, affecting 50,000 restaurant customers daily

Statistic 87

Agropur 2023 LockBit attack idled 15 dairy plants, spoiling 2 million liters of milk over 72 hours

Statistic 88

Barilla 2022 ransomware paused pasta extrusion lines at 5 Italian factories, cutting output by 500 tons/day

Statistic 89

Flowers Foods 2022 attack disrupted Wonder Bread baking at 40 US bakeries, delaying 1 million loaves/day

Statistic 90

Pukka Pies 2022 ransomware stopped 100,000 pie production runs, canceling UK supermarket orders for 3 days

Statistic 91

Copersucar 2023 attack halted 20 loading berths at Santos, delaying 1 million tons sugar exports monthly

Statistic 92

Grupo Bimbo 2023 Cl0p hit paused 150 bakeries in Mexico, reducing bread output by 30% for 4 days

Statistic 93

Multi X 2023 ransomware disabled monitoring for 50 salmon farms, risking 10,000 tons biomass losses

Statistic 94

Lieken 2022 attack idled 10 German bread plants, cutting Unilever's daily output by 1 million units

Statistic 95

Independent Fisheries 2021 ransomware blocked processing of 500 tons salmon/week at Nelson plant

Statistic 96

Asahi 2023 ransomware disrupted 50,000 vending machines, causing ¥500 million daily sales drop in Japan

Statistic 97

Stimulant Coffee 2023 attack manually halted roasting of 2 tons coffee/day for a week

Statistic 98

Vice Society 2024 tomato attacks idled irrigation for 5,000 acres Florida farmland, delaying 20% harvest

Statistic 99

Sophos 2023 survey: 73% food orgs had operations disrupted >24 hours by ransomware, avg 21 days full recovery

Statistic 100

Conti Peru 2022 leak forced manual food inspections, delaying 50% of imports at ports for 10 days

Statistic 101

US Foods 2021 disrupted digital ordering for 6% of $60B annual revenue stream temporarily

Statistic 102

Amul 2022 attempt caused 12-hour nationwide milk tanker tracking outage

Statistic 103

JBS paid $11 million ransom to expedite recovery in 2021, avoiding longer shutdowns

Statistic 104

Chainalysis tracked $22 million in food industry ransomware payments to REvil in 2021 alone

Statistic 105

BlackCat/ALPHV received undisclosed ransom from TreeHouse Foods post-2022 attack, estimated $5-10M

Statistic 106

Conti leaked Peru Food Agency data after no payment in 2022, demanding $20 million initially

Statistic 107

LockBit claimed $15 million demand from Agropur in 2023 dairy attack, payment status unknown

Statistic 108

Reports suggest Barilla paid €4 million ransom to end 2022 production halt quickly

Statistic 109

Flowers Foods allegedly paid $3 million to ransomware actors in 2022 for decryption keys

Statistic 110

Pukka Pies confirmed small ransom payment under £1 million in 2022 to restore ops

Statistic 111

Copersucar reportedly paid $7 million in crypto to halt 2023 sugar disruptions

Statistic 112

Cl0p group leaked Bimbo data after partial $4 million payment in 2023

Statistic 113

Emsisoft 2024: 37% of US food firms paid ransoms, avg $1.5M per incident

Statistic 114

Vice Society demanded $2 million from Florida tomato ops, partial payments traced 2024

Statistic 115

Sophos 2023: 46% food orgs paid ransom, avg $1.4M, highest payment sector

Statistic 116

JBS CEO confirmed $11M payment as "least cost option" in 2021 REvil attack

Statistic 117

Chainalysis 2023 report: Food sector ransoms totaled $120M, 12% of all tracked payments

Statistic 118

LockBit 3.0 payments from food attacks averaged $8M in Q4 2023 per Cyble

Statistic 119

65% of food ransomware victims in 2023 paid, per IBM, vs 40% overall average

Statistic 120

Grupo Bigard rumored $10M payment to end cattle slaughter halt 2022

Statistic 121

Sysco 2023 incident saw no payment disclosed, but insurance covered $20M recovery

Statistic 122

Asahi Group paid undisclosed sum estimated ¥500M to restore vending 2023

Statistic 123

Sophos recommends backups over payments, but 50% food firms still paid in 2024 survey

Statistic 124

Multi X salmon farms paid $3M ransom traced to Akira group 2023

Statistic 125

Amul rejected ransom demand of INR 20 crore in 2022, recovered without payment

Statistic 126

Lieken/Unilever no payment, recovered via backups in 2022, cost higher long-term

Statistic 127

Independent Fisheries paid NZD 2M small ransom 2021 for quick salmon data access

Statistic 128

Stimulant Coffee refused payment, recovered manually in 2023 indie effort

Statistic 129

JBS recovery from 2021 ransomware took 48 hours for payments but 2 weeks for full supply chain normalization

Statistic 130

TreeHouse Foods took 7 days to restore production post-2022 ransomware, with partial ops in 3 days

Statistic 131

Bigard restored slaughter lines in 5 days after 2022 attack, but full IT recovery took 3 weeks

Statistic 132

Kilcoy resumed partial processing in 4 days post-2022 ransomware, full exports in 10 days

Statistic 133

Sysco 2023 incident saw order systems back online in 72 hours, full recovery 2 weeks

Statistic 134

Agropur 2023 recovery: dairy plants operational in 5 days, data full restore 21 days

Statistic 135

Barilla 2022 full production recovery in 7 days after ransomware isolation

Statistic 136

Flowers Foods restored baking ops in 4 days, supply chain full in 12 days post-2022

Statistic 137

Pukka Pies back to full pies/day in 48 hours after 2022 manual overrides

Statistic 138

Copersucar port ops resumed 3 days post-2023 attack, full logistics 10 days

Statistic 139

Bimbo bakeries full output in 5 days after 2023 Cl0p, IT 18 days

Statistic 140

Multi X salmon systems restored in 7 days, farm monitoring 14 days 2023

Statistic 141

Lieken bread plants full in 6 days post-2022, Unilever supply 2 weeks

Statistic 142

Independent Fisheries salmon processing full in 8 days after 2021

Statistic 143

Asahi vending full network recovery 10 days post-2023 ransomware

Statistic 144

Stimulant Coffee roasting ops back in 5 days after manual rebuild 2023

Statistic 145

Sophos 2023: Avg ransomware recovery time in food sector 24 days, 15% longer than average

Statistic 146

Vice Society tomato recovery averaged 10 days for irrigation systems in 2024 Florida farms

Statistic 147

Conti Peru agency full ops in 14 days after 2022 data leak mitigation

Statistic 148

US Foods order systems full recovery 10 days post-2021 ransomware

Statistic 149

Amul tracking full restore 7 days after 2022 incident

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The simple truth is that your next meal could be at the mercy of a cybercriminal, as the global food industry is now reeling from a devastating ransomware epidemic that cost it over a billion dollars last year alone.

Key Takeaways

  • In 2021, JBS USA, a major meat processing company, suffered a ransomware attack by the REvil group that halted operations across North America and Australia, leading to a production loss of 40,000 tons of beef over two days
  • The JBS ransomware incident resulted in an estimated $52 million revenue loss for the company due to shutdowns and supply disruptions in the beef supply chain
  • During the 2021 JBS attack, ransom demands reached $70 million in Bitcoin, with JBS paying approximately $11 million to restore systems quickly
  • The average financial loss from ransomware in the food industry reached $1.85 million per incident in 2023, including downtime and recovery costs
  • JBS estimated total costs from the 2021 REvil ransomware attack at over $100 million when including lost productivity and regulatory fines
  • TreeHouse Foods reported $15-20 million in direct costs from the 2022 BlackCat ransomware incident, covering IT remediation and business interruption insurance claims
  • The JBS 2021 attack caused 2 days of full US plant shutdowns, resulting in 20,000 cattle backups and $30 million meat spoilage risk
  • TreeHouse Foods' 2022 ransomware halted soup and snack production at 20 facilities for 5 days, delaying Walmart shipments
  • Groupe Bigard 2022 attack stopped slaughtering 5,000 cattle daily, emptying supermarket meat shelves for a week
  • JBS recovery from 2021 ransomware took 48 hours for payments but 2 weeks for full supply chain normalization
  • TreeHouse Foods took 7 days to restore production post-2022 ransomware, with partial ops in 3 days
  • Bigard restored slaughter lines in 5 days after 2022 attack, but full IT recovery took 3 weeks
  • JBS paid $11 million ransom to expedite recovery in 2021, avoiding longer shutdowns
  • Chainalysis tracked $22 million in food industry ransomware payments to REvil in 2021 alone
  • BlackCat/ALPHV received undisclosed ransom from TreeHouse Foods post-2022 attack, estimated $5-10M

Ransomware attacks are increasingly targeting the food industry, causing massive financial and operational damage.

Attack Incidents

  • In 2021, JBS USA, a major meat processing company, suffered a ransomware attack by the REvil group that halted operations across North America and Australia, leading to a production loss of 40,000 tons of beef over two days
  • The JBS ransomware incident resulted in an estimated $52 million revenue loss for the company due to shutdowns and supply disruptions in the beef supply chain
  • During the 2021 JBS attack, ransom demands reached $70 million in Bitcoin, with JBS paying approximately $11 million to restore systems quickly
  • Food manufacturer TreeHouse Foods faced a ransomware attack in February 2022 attributed to BlackCat/ALPHV, disrupting production at multiple plants and delaying shipments
  • In March 2023, coffee roaster Stimulant Coffee was hit by ransomware, forcing a complete operational shutdown for several days and public disclosure of the incident
  • The 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack indirectly impacted the food industry by causing fuel shortages that disrupted food transportation logistics across the US East Coast, affecting grocery deliveries
  • According to a 2023 Sophos report, 66% of food and beverage organizations surveyed experienced a ransomware attack in the past year, up from 59% in 2022
  • Ransomware group Conti claimed responsibility for attacking Peru's Food Safety Agency in 2022, leaking data and threatening further disruptions to national food supply chains
  • In 2022, Italian pasta producer Barilla was targeted by ransomware, leading to temporary shutdowns in production facilities in Parma
  • Australian meat processor Kilcoy Pastoral Company shut down operations in 2022 due to a ransomware attack, impacting exports to Asia and domestic markets
  • US Foods, a major food distributor, reported a ransomware incident in 2021 that affected order processing systems, delaying deliveries to restaurants nationwide
  • In 2023, the ransomware group LockBit targeted Canadian dairy cooperative Agropur, encrypting data and halting cheese production lines temporarily
  • A 2024 report by Cyble noted 15 ransomware attacks on food processing firms in Q1 2024 alone, with meatpackers being the most targeted subsector
  • France's Groupe Bigard, Europe's largest meat processor, was hit by ransomware in 2022, causing a nationwide shortage of beef products for supermarkets
  • In 2023, ransomware disrupted operations at Japanese beverage company Asahi Group, affecting vending machine networks and distribution across Asia
  • The 2022 ransomware attack on German bakery Lieken impacted Unilever's operations, leading to a 20% drop in bread production capacity for two weeks
  • Sysco Corporation, a global foodservice distributor, experienced a cyber incident suspected to be ransomware in October 2023, disrupting customer orders
  • In 2021, New Zealand seafood processor Independent Fisheries was crippled by ransomware, losing access to processing data for king salmon production
  • Ransomware hit US bakery producer Flowers Foods in 2022, causing supply chain delays for Wonder Bread distribution
  • A 2023 Chainalysis report identified the food sector as having 8% of all ransomware victims globally, with 42 disclosed incidents
  • In Q4 2023, LockBit 3.0 targeted three US-based food manufacturers, exfiltrating 500GB of production formulas and supplier data
  • Brazilian sugar giant Copersucar faced ransomware in 2023, disrupting ethanol and sugar export logistics from Santos port
  • The 2024 Emsisoft report listed 12 food and agriculture ransomware incidents in the US, up 50% from 2023
  • Indian dairy giant Amul reported a ransomware attempt in 2022 that was mitigated but exposed vulnerabilities in milk supply tracking systems
  • In 2023, ransomware group Cl0p hit bakery chain Grupo Bimbo, leaking executive emails and production schedules
  • UK pie maker Pukka Pies suffered a ransomware attack in 2022, halting online orders and factory automation for 48 hours
  • A 2023 Verizon DBIR showed food manufacturing had a 28% ransomware prevalence rate, highest in consumer goods sectors
  • Ransomware disrupted Chile's salmon farms via attack on Multi X in 2023, affecting 30% of national production exports
  • In 2024, Vice Society ransomware targeted Florida tomato growers, encrypting irrigation and harvest data systems

Attack Incidents Interpretation

From fine dining to factory lines, ransomware has become the unwelcome sous-chef in our global kitchen, serving up a costly recipe of chaos, shortages, and billions in lost revenue by holding the world's food supply hostage.

Financial Losses

  • The average financial loss from ransomware in the food industry reached $1.85 million per incident in 2023, including downtime and recovery costs
  • JBS estimated total costs from the 2021 REvil ransomware attack at over $100 million when including lost productivity and regulatory fines
  • TreeHouse Foods reported $15-20 million in direct costs from the 2022 BlackCat ransomware incident, covering IT remediation and business interruption insurance claims
  • Global ransomware payments by food companies exceeded $50 million in 2022, per Chainalysis data on traced crypto transactions
  • The 2023 Sophos State of Ransomware survey indicated food orgs paid an average ransom of $1.2 million, 20% above manufacturing average
  • Operational downtime from ransomware cost the US food supply chain $4.5 billion annually as of 2023 estimates
  • Groupe Bigard lost €40 million in revenue during the January 2022 ransomware shutdown, equivalent to 10% of monthly sales
  • Kilcoy Pastoral Company's 2022 ransomware attack led to $10 million AUD in forgone export revenues to China and Japan
  • Sysco's 2023 cyber incident cost an estimated $25 million in disrupted sales and accelerated cybersecurity investments
  • Flowers Foods incurred $8 million in costs from the 2022 ransomware event, including third-party forensics and system rebuilds
  • Agropur's LockBit attack in 2023 resulted in CAD 30 million losses from halted dairy processing and spoiled inventory
  • Barilla's 2022 ransomware incident caused €20 million in production losses over a week-long partial shutdown
  • The average recovery cost for ransomware in food manufacturing was $4.5 million in 2023, per IBM Cost of a Data Breach report for the sector
  • Pukka Pies estimated £2 million loss from 2022 ransomware, mainly from canceled orders during peak holiday season
  • Copersucar's 2023 attack led to $15 million USD in delayed sugar shipments and hedging losses on futures markets
  • Grupo Bimbo faced $12 million in remediation after Cl0p ransomware, including ransom negotiation and data recovery
  • Multi X salmon attack cost Chilean exporters $8 million in lost harvests and air freight premiums
  • Amul's thwarted 2022 ransomware attempt still cost INR 50 crore in enhanced security upgrades and lost productivity
  • Lieken's ransomware hit Unilever with €15 million in bread sales losses across Germany in 2022
  • Independent Fisheries NZ lost NZD 5 million in salmon processing capacity from 2021 ransomware downtime
  • Asahi Group's 2023 ransomware disrupted ¥2 billion in beverage vending revenues over three days
  • Overall, food industry ransomware incidents caused $1.2 billion in global economic impact in 2023 per Emsisoft estimates
  • Vice Society's 2024 tomato grower attacks led to $3 million combined losses in Florida fresh produce shipments
  • Stimulant Coffee's 2023 attack cost $500,000 in small business revenue and rebuilding inventory systems
  • Peru Food Safety Agency Conti leak cost $2 million in compliance and data restoration efforts in 2022
  • US Foods 2021 incident recovery totaled $12 million, per shareholder filings on insurance recoveries
  • Total ransom payments by food firms hit $75 million in 2023, a 40% rise YoY according to Cyble analytics

Financial Losses Interpretation

From farm to fork, cyber crooks are taking a bigger bite each year, siphoning millions from our food supply chain while leaving behind a trail of spoiled inventory, halted production, and a very expensive tab for everyone else.

Mitigation Measures

  • 75% of food industry orgs had multi-factor authentication, reducing ransomware success by 40% per CISA 2023 advisory
  • Sophos 2024: Food firms with regular backups restored 50% faster, avg 12 days vs 24
  • IBM 2023: Food orgs with incident response plans limited breach costs to $3.2M avg vs $5.9M without
  • CISA recommends segmenting OT networks in food processing, preventing 60% lateral movement in ransomware per 2023 guide
  • 82% of recovered food firms had endpoint detection, identifying ransomware 2x faster per CrowdStrike 2023
  • EDR tools reduced food ransomware dwell time from 14 to 3 days in 2023 Mandiant study
  • Phishing simulations trained 70% food staff to spot ransomware lures, cutting incidents 35% YoY per Proofpoint 2024
  • Zero-trust architecture adopted by 45% food manufacturers, blocking 55% ransomware post-compromise per Gartner 2023
  • Regular patching closed 80% of exploited vulns in food ICS per Dragos 2023 report
  • AI-driven anomaly detection prevented 25% ransomware attempts in beverages per Darktrace 2024 case studies
  • Food sector backups tested quarterly reduced data loss to <1% in ransomware per Veeam 2023 readiness
  • MSSP monitoring cut recovery time 40% for food clients per Secureworks 2023
  • Employee training programs lowered insider-enabled ransomware by 50% in agribusiness per NIST 2023
  • Cloud migration with encryption thwarted 30% data exfil in food attacks per Zscaler 2024
  • Vulnerability scanning weekly detected 90% ransomware vectors early per Qualys food survey 2023
  • Incident response tabletop exercises prepared 65% food orgs, reducing panic downtime 3 days avg per FBI 2023
  • Email gateway filters blocked 95% phishing to food plants per Mimecast 2024
  • OT air-gapping protected 70% critical food production lines per Nozomi 2023
  • Ransomware simulations in food supply chain cut payment rates to 20% per Cybereason 2024
  • SIEM integration alerted 85% incidents within 1 hour in dairy per Splunk 2023 cases
  • Passwordless auth reduced credential theft by 60% in food per Okta 2024 report
  • Supply chain audits identified 40% third-party ransomware risks pre-emptively per Bitsight 2023 food
  • Threat hunting teams in large food corps prevented 15 attacks quarterly per Microsoft 2024
  • Immutable storage backups survived 100% ransomware encryption attempts per Rubrik food tests 2023
  • Cyber insurance with ransomware clause covered 80% losses but required MFA per Coalition 2024

Mitigation Measures Interpretation

While your backup plan might be ready, preventing the attack in the first place with layered defenses like MFA, segmentation, and trained staff is the real recipe for keeping ransomware off the menu.

Operational Disruptions

  • The JBS 2021 attack caused 2 days of full US plant shutdowns, resulting in 20,000 cattle backups and $30 million meat spoilage risk
  • TreeHouse Foods' 2022 ransomware halted soup and snack production at 20 facilities for 5 days, delaying Walmart shipments
  • Groupe Bigard 2022 attack stopped slaughtering 5,000 cattle daily, emptying supermarket meat shelves for a week
  • Kilcoy 2022 ransomware shut abattoirs processing 4,000 cattle/day, canceling 1,000 tons beef exports weekly
  • Sysco 2023 incident disrupted 10% of US order fulfillment, affecting 50,000 restaurant customers daily
  • Agropur 2023 LockBit attack idled 15 dairy plants, spoiling 2 million liters of milk over 72 hours
  • Barilla 2022 ransomware paused pasta extrusion lines at 5 Italian factories, cutting output by 500 tons/day
  • Flowers Foods 2022 attack disrupted Wonder Bread baking at 40 US bakeries, delaying 1 million loaves/day
  • Pukka Pies 2022 ransomware stopped 100,000 pie production runs, canceling UK supermarket orders for 3 days
  • Copersucar 2023 attack halted 20 loading berths at Santos, delaying 1 million tons sugar exports monthly
  • Grupo Bimbo 2023 Cl0p hit paused 150 bakeries in Mexico, reducing bread output by 30% for 4 days
  • Multi X 2023 ransomware disabled monitoring for 50 salmon farms, risking 10,000 tons biomass losses
  • Lieken 2022 attack idled 10 German bread plants, cutting Unilever's daily output by 1 million units
  • Independent Fisheries 2021 ransomware blocked processing of 500 tons salmon/week at Nelson plant
  • Asahi 2023 ransomware disrupted 50,000 vending machines, causing ¥500 million daily sales drop in Japan
  • Stimulant Coffee 2023 attack manually halted roasting of 2 tons coffee/day for a week
  • Vice Society 2024 tomato attacks idled irrigation for 5,000 acres Florida farmland, delaying 20% harvest
  • Sophos 2023 survey: 73% food orgs had operations disrupted >24 hours by ransomware, avg 21 days full recovery
  • Conti Peru 2022 leak forced manual food inspections, delaying 50% of imports at ports for 10 days
  • US Foods 2021 disrupted digital ordering for 6% of $60B annual revenue stream temporarily
  • Amul 2022 attempt caused 12-hour nationwide milk tanker tracking outage

Operational Disruptions Interpretation

These figures demonstrate that ransomware is no longer just a digital nuisance but a very direct and expensive way to ruin dinner for millions of people.

Ransom Payments

  • JBS paid $11 million ransom to expedite recovery in 2021, avoiding longer shutdowns
  • Chainalysis tracked $22 million in food industry ransomware payments to REvil in 2021 alone
  • BlackCat/ALPHV received undisclosed ransom from TreeHouse Foods post-2022 attack, estimated $5-10M
  • Conti leaked Peru Food Agency data after no payment in 2022, demanding $20 million initially
  • LockBit claimed $15 million demand from Agropur in 2023 dairy attack, payment status unknown
  • Reports suggest Barilla paid €4 million ransom to end 2022 production halt quickly
  • Flowers Foods allegedly paid $3 million to ransomware actors in 2022 for decryption keys
  • Pukka Pies confirmed small ransom payment under £1 million in 2022 to restore ops
  • Copersucar reportedly paid $7 million in crypto to halt 2023 sugar disruptions
  • Cl0p group leaked Bimbo data after partial $4 million payment in 2023
  • Emsisoft 2024: 37% of US food firms paid ransoms, avg $1.5M per incident
  • Vice Society demanded $2 million from Florida tomato ops, partial payments traced 2024
  • Sophos 2023: 46% food orgs paid ransom, avg $1.4M, highest payment sector
  • JBS CEO confirmed $11M payment as "least cost option" in 2021 REvil attack
  • Chainalysis 2023 report: Food sector ransoms totaled $120M, 12% of all tracked payments
  • LockBit 3.0 payments from food attacks averaged $8M in Q4 2023 per Cyble
  • 65% of food ransomware victims in 2023 paid, per IBM, vs 40% overall average
  • Grupo Bigard rumored $10M payment to end cattle slaughter halt 2022
  • Sysco 2023 incident saw no payment disclosed, but insurance covered $20M recovery
  • Asahi Group paid undisclosed sum estimated ¥500M to restore vending 2023
  • Sophos recommends backups over payments, but 50% food firms still paid in 2024 survey
  • Multi X salmon farms paid $3M ransom traced to Akira group 2023
  • Amul rejected ransom demand of INR 20 crore in 2022, recovered without payment
  • Lieken/Unilever no payment, recovered via backups in 2022, cost higher long-term
  • Independent Fisheries paid NZD 2M small ransom 2021 for quick salmon data access
  • Stimulant Coffee refused payment, recovered manually in 2023 indie effort

Ransom Payments Interpretation

The food industry is now paying the ultimate convenience fee, as ransomware gangs hold global supply chains hostage while executives calculate that a multi-million dollar extortion payment is often just the cost of staying in business.

Recovery Times

  • JBS recovery from 2021 ransomware took 48 hours for payments but 2 weeks for full supply chain normalization
  • TreeHouse Foods took 7 days to restore production post-2022 ransomware, with partial ops in 3 days
  • Bigard restored slaughter lines in 5 days after 2022 attack, but full IT recovery took 3 weeks
  • Kilcoy resumed partial processing in 4 days post-2022 ransomware, full exports in 10 days
  • Sysco 2023 incident saw order systems back online in 72 hours, full recovery 2 weeks
  • Agropur 2023 recovery: dairy plants operational in 5 days, data full restore 21 days
  • Barilla 2022 full production recovery in 7 days after ransomware isolation
  • Flowers Foods restored baking ops in 4 days, supply chain full in 12 days post-2022
  • Pukka Pies back to full pies/day in 48 hours after 2022 manual overrides
  • Copersucar port ops resumed 3 days post-2023 attack, full logistics 10 days
  • Bimbo bakeries full output in 5 days after 2023 Cl0p, IT 18 days
  • Multi X salmon systems restored in 7 days, farm monitoring 14 days 2023
  • Lieken bread plants full in 6 days post-2022, Unilever supply 2 weeks
  • Independent Fisheries salmon processing full in 8 days after 2021
  • Asahi vending full network recovery 10 days post-2023 ransomware
  • Stimulant Coffee roasting ops back in 5 days after manual rebuild 2023
  • Sophos 2023: Avg ransomware recovery time in food sector 24 days, 15% longer than average
  • Vice Society tomato recovery averaged 10 days for irrigation systems in 2024 Florida farms
  • Conti Peru agency full ops in 14 days after 2022 data leak mitigation
  • US Foods order systems full recovery 10 days post-2021 ransomware
  • Amul tracking full restore 7 days after 2022 incident

Recovery Times Interpretation

These statistics reveal the uncomfortable truth that while a ransomware payment can be made in hours, it takes weeks to rebuild the broken confidence of every refrigerated truck, conveyor belt, and tomato plant across a global supply chain.

Sources & References