During late November, Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. was subjected to a ransom demand from hackers who created outages. The company promptly reported the incident to authorities and initiated corrective action using in-company and outside consultant specialists in cybersecurity. The company coordinated response with customers and suppliers and received cooperation during the return to normal operations. Maple Leaf foods provided workers with two years of credit monitoring services.
A recent Company release stated, “Illegal acts have compromised our systems and potentially put information at risk. This is intolerable and our Company will not pay ransom to criminals.” The statement added, “We are asking responsible people, including those in the media, not to entertain any leads they receive from stolen or compromised data and not to contact anyone based on illegally obtained information.”
Despite the attack, Maple Leaf activities have continued, mostly unaffected, through November.
The attack on Maple Leaf Foods demonstrates the vulnerability of large protein-producing companies to intrusion. It is understood that detection systems have recorded attempts by criminals to hack databases in many companies. In 2021, JBS was the subject of a concerted attack, resulting in payment of $11million in ransom in order for the company to restore operations in North America and Australia.