Astral Foods, South Africa's Largest Poultry Producer, Loses Over $1M Due to Cyberattack
Astral Foods, the largest poultry producer in South Africa, has suffered significant losses due to a devastating cyberattack that disrupted its operations and deliveries. The company, which supplies chicken products to retail, wholesale, and fast-food markets in South Africa and neighboring countries, reported an astonishing loss of over $1 million (R20 million) in the wake of the March 2025 cyber incident.
Astral Foods is a South African integrated poultry producer and one of the country's largest food companies. It specializes in poultry production, animal feed, and related agricultural operations. With annual revenue of over $1 billion for 2024, the company is a major player in the South African food industry. However, the cyberattack had a profound impact on its operations, with downtime in processing and deliveries to customers resulting in a loss of revenue and significant costs to catch up on production.
"On 16 March 2025, Astral experienced a cybersecurity incident," stated the company. "The Group acted swiftly, implementing all disaster recovery protocols and preparedness plans. However, our Poultry Division was negatively impacted by downtime in processing and deliveries to customers. This resulted in a loss of revenue, and together with costs to catch-up a backlog in production, have impacted the Group's profits in this reporting period by approximately R20 million."
Despite the devastating impact of the cyberattack, Astral Foods has confirmed that no sensitive data was compromised during the incident. The company quickly implemented all disaster recovery protocols and preparedness plans to minimize the disruption.
"At the date of this announcement, all business units are operating normally following the recovery of our systems," added the statement from Astral Foods. "However, we warn investors that the cyberattack-related outages will significantly reduce earnings per share for the current financial period."
Astral Foods is not alone in facing significant losses due to ransomware attacks. Major food producers like Dole, JBS, Sysco, and Mondelez have faced similar incidents in recent years, with some causing multimillion-dollar losses.
Stay Safe Online
If you're concerned about the security of your business or personal data, stay safe online by following these tips:
- Implement robust cybersecurity protocols and disaster recovery plans.
- Regularly back up important data to prevent losses in case of an attack.
- Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication to protect your accounts.
- Stay informed about the latest cyber threats and trends.
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