Moscow-based meat producer and distributor Miratorg Agribusiness Holding has suffered a major cyberattack that encrypted its IT systems, according to a report from Rosselkhoznadzor - the Russian federal veterinary and phytosanitary supervision service.
The announcement notes that the attackers leveraged the
Windows BitLocker feature to encrypt files, essentially performing a ransomware attack.
According to the agency, the reason behind the attack appears to be sabotage and not financial, since Miratorg is one of Russia's largest and food suppliers.
The point of compromise was VetIS, a state information system used by veterinary services and companies engaging in the field, making it likely a supply chain compromise, although more clarification is needed in this regard.
"Probably, this incident is a manifestation of the informational and economic "total war" that the collective West unleashed against Russia. We are pushed to this assumption by the fact that during the entire existence of VetIS (more than 10 years) and tens of thousands of Russian and foreign software systems integrated with it, this has never happened,"
Rosselkhoznadzor (machine translated)
"Of course, one can assume that this is just a coincidence, but given the ongoing attacks on VetIS itself, this assumption seems extremely unlikely to us – the time that has passed since the West declared this war on us is too short," the agency added.
