Commodity Firms’ M&A Binge Creates Big, Tempting Hacker Targets

A company that slaughters cattle may seem like an unlikely target for a cyberattack. That is, until you realize that taking out just one company could paralyze burger and steak supplies for all Americans.

That’s the lesson from the recent <-bsp-bb-link state="{"bbDocId":"OS92VJ6JIJUO","_id":"0000017a-1412-d5a3-ad7a-dcf7f9b30000","_type":"0000016b-944a-dc2b-ab6b-d57ba1cc0000"}">ransomware attack on one of the biggest U.S. beef producers. Namely, that a fervor for mergers and acquisitions has created single points of failure in some critical industries, making them prime targets for hackers who want to threaten huge disruptions to cash in on the biggest payouts possible.

The attack on JBS SA, which started over the Memorial Day ...