Souderton Meatpacking Plant Was Shut Down After Cyberattack

SOUDERTON, PA — The head of the union representing workers at the JBS meatpacking plant in Souderton said he believes the plant will be back fully operational on Thursday after operations were shut down during the Memorial Day holiday weekend because of a suspected Russian cyberattack, the Philadelphia Enquirer reported.

"The goal is to have everything back to normal (Thursday) or soon after," said Wendell Young IV, head of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union's Pennsylvania affiliate.

The Souderton facility, which has 1,500 employees, has "limited operations" today, according to Young.

"It's not like it's shuttered. They're processing some ground meat," Young said.

JBS, based in Brazil, has more than 150,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue of more than $50 billion. The company is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S.

The cyberattack, which affected servers supporting JBS' operations in North America and Australia, was disclosed on Sunday. Backup servers were not affected, and the company said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised, according to AP.

The attack forced the shutdown of several JBS facilities, including the plant in Souderton. However, since the shutdown fell on a Sunday and Memorial Day Monday, it did not affect operations like it could have had it fallen on workdays.

Operations in the U.S. and Australia are starting to resume.

JBS said Tuesday that it had made "significant progress" in dealing with the cyberattack and expected the vast majority of its plants to be operating on Wednesday, according to AP.

AP reported that JBS plants in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia resumed limited operations on Wednesday, and the company hoped to resume work in Queensland state on Thursday.

Plants in the United States are making similar progress.

"Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat," Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA said in a statement.

The White House has said the attack on JBS was a ransomware attack, and Reuters reported the White House believes it originated from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.

Last month, ransomware hackers hit the Colonial Pipeline, which transports nearly half of the East Coast's gasoline. The attack forced the pipeline's operator to shut down its systems, leading to price surges, panic buying and jet-fuel shortages. The company later acknowledged paying hackers $4.4 million to recover its data, The New York Times reported.