Maple Leaf Foods, the Canadian meat packing company, has suffered a cyberattack. Maple leaf foods runs a relatively large operation with more than 14,000 employees, and their products are in various markets across Canada, the US, and Asia. While not publicly confirmed, this attack most likely involves ransomware. Services were disrupted for an extended period of time, and the company said that the disruptions will likely continue as restoration efforts are carried out. Maple Leaf Foods stated, “Upon learning of the incident, Maple Leaf Foods took immediate action and engaged cybersecurity and recovery experts. Its team of information systems professionals and third-party experts are working diligently with all available resources to investigate the outage and resolve the situation.” Since the investigations are still ongoing, Maple Leaf Foods has chosen to refrain from giving details on the incident.
Analyst Notes
To minimize the effect of ransomware attacks, organizations should regularly back up their data and keep secure copies offline. On top of that, keeping systems up to date with patches and keeping an up-to-date anti-virus software will help a considerable amount. A 24/7 monitoring solution like the one that is offered by Binary Defense and the Security Operations Center should be considered when determining a defense solution as well. Keeping eyes out for network intrusions and reporting suspicious activity can greatly reduce the effects of an attack and can save companies a substantial amount of money.
Canadian Meat Giant Maple Leaf Foods Disrupted by Cyberattack
