Big meatpacker JBS USA has revealed it forked out a ransom equivalent to US$11 million following the cyber attack that disrupted its North American and Australian operations.
International media reported the company's chief executive officer Andre Nogueira made the shock announcement not long after it was revealed the US Justice Department had cracked down on hackers who targetted Colonial Pipeline a month before the JBS attack.
They were able to recover $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline.
The attack on JBS saw cattle processing halted in all US plants for a day and in all Australian plants for the best part of last week.
Global media quoted Mr Nogueira saying: "This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally. However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers."
The ransom was paid in bitcoin.
A Russian hacking group known as REvil, or Sodinokibi, is believed to be behind the JBS attack.