Barkal Food Industries Hit by Meow Ransomware: 12GB Data Compromised
Incident Date:
August 27, 2024
Overview
Title
Barkal Food Industries Hit by Meow Ransomware: 12GB Data Compromised
Victim
Barkal Food Industries
Attacker
Meow
Location
First Reported
August 27, 2024
Ransomware Attack on Barkal Food Industries by Meow Ransomware Group
Barkal Food Industries, a leading Israeli food company specializing in the production and distribution of prepared meals and catering services, has recently fallen victim to a ransomware attack orchestrated by the notorious Meow ransomware group. The attack has compromised over 12 GB of highly sensitive and confidential data, including employee records, client information, personal data, and scanned payment documents.
About Barkal Food Industries
Founded over 35 years ago, Barkal Food Industries has established itself as a prominent player in the Israeli food industry. The company is renowned for its commitment to providing high-quality, fresh, and nutritious meals to various institutions and organizations, including schools, kindergartens, community centers, clubs, and daycare facilities. Barkal's dedication to hygiene, nutrition, and safety is underscored by its certifications, such as GMP, ISO 9001, and HACCP, and its kosher meals supervised by the Jerusalem Religious Council.
With a diverse product range that includes ready-to-eat meals, salads, sandwiches, and school lunches, Barkal serves thousands of meals daily across Israel. The company's long-standing presence and authorization from the Israeli Ministry of Health position it as a trusted and reliable food service provider.
Attack Overview
The Meow ransomware group has demanded a ransom of $16,000 for the release of the stolen data. The breach poses a significant threat to Barkal's reputation and operational integrity, as the stolen data could provide valuable insights into the company's operations, making it highly attractive to competitors, analysts, and industry professionals.
About Meow Ransomware Group
Meow Ransomware emerged in late 2022 and has been associated with the Conti v2 ransomware variant. The group is known for targeting industries with sensitive data, such as healthcare and medical research. Meow Ransomware employs various infection methods, including phishing emails, exploit kits, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) vulnerabilities, and malvertising. Once a system is compromised, the ransomware encrypts files using a combination of the ChaCha20 and RSA-4096 algorithms.
The group maintains a data leak site where they list victims who have not paid the ransom. Meow Ransomware leaves behind a ransom note named "readme.txt" that instructs victims to contact the group via email or Telegram to negotiate the ransom payment and retrieve their encrypted files. Security researchers have identified the threat actors behind Meow Ransomware as the "Anti-Russian Extortion Group," likely due to their targeting of entities in response to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Potential Vulnerabilities
Barkal Food Industries, like many organizations, may have been vulnerable to this attack due to potential weaknesses in their cybersecurity infrastructure. The use of outdated software, lack of employee training on phishing attacks, and insufficient network security measures could have contributed to the successful penetration of their systems by the Meow ransomware group.
Recent Ransomware Attacks
The Recent Ransomware Attacks (RRA) site acts as a watchtower, providing you with near real-time ransomware tracking of attacks, groups and their victims. Given threat actors’ overarching, lucrative success so far, ransomware attacks have become the most ubiquitous, and financially and informationally impactful cyber threat to businesses and organizations today.
The site’s data is generated based on hosting choices of real-world threat actors, and a handful of other trackers. While sanitization efforts have been taken, we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy of the data. Attack updates will be made as source data is reported by reputable sources. By viewing, accessing, or using RRA you acknowledge you are doing so at your own risk.