Cyber attack shuts down Australia's biggest meatworks

A major cyber attack has led to Australia's largest meatworks company shutting down, as well as its facilities in the US and Canada.

A major cyber attack has led to Australia's largest meatworks company, JBS Foods, shutting down, as well as the company's facilities in the United States and Canada.

JBS Foods' information systems were targeted, with the company's chief executive Brent Eastwood confirming the news to Beef Central.

The cyber attack means that thousands of people would go without pay, the Australian Meat Industry Employees' Union Queensland secretary Matt Journeaux said.

"The meat in the sandwich is that this is a concerted effort against Australian business and the workers will suffer as a result of that," Journeaux told ABC Radio Brisbane.

"There's six sites in Queensland that will be affected … and around the nation there would be significantly more.

"In most processing facilities the workers are on daily hire arrangements and unfortunately if they don't work, they don't get paid."

Across Australia the company has 47 sites, operating the largest network of production facilities and feedlots in the country.

The Australian government has since been made aware of the attack, says Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud. He confirmed it was working to get JBS meatworks back online nationally.

"If this situation isn't rectified within weeks it would definitely have flow-on effects," Journeaux said.

"There could be a protein deficiency globally because of this."

He went on to explain that every step of processing was down.

"Cattle get entered into systems to be processed," he said. "When those cuts are in a box computers print tickets with barcodes for those cuts, and I think all of those systems have been affected by this."