Cl0p Ransomware Gang Allegedly Hacks New Zealand Poultry Producer

Cybercriminals stretch their operations as a new attack hits New Zealand’s giant food firm. Brinks NZ, a poultry producer with over 60 years of operation, has allegedly been hacked by the notorious Cl0p ransomware gang.

The hackers listed the company on their dark web leak site, claiming Brinks NZ “ignored its security” and “doesn’t care about its customers.”

Cybercriminals Spread their Targets

The listed breach follows a well-known and recognized way of adding pressure to victims by demanding payment of a ransom. Also, the listing disclosed that their annual revenue is approximately $6.2 million. Brinks NZ has not yet made a public statement in regard to the incident or any other potential related events.

This incident is indicative of the increasing danger of sophisticated ransomware organizations to businesses worldwide, regardless of the industry type or sector. In this case, especially considering Brinks NZ is a food manufacturer, it is valid to say that not only are food manufacturers susceptible to attack by highly skilled cyber criminals and ransomware organizations such as Cl0p, but also that the attack shows that cybercriminals can and will exploit any opportunity that exists to extort payment from their victims.

This global threat is omnipresent. Simultaneously, the hospitality sector is facing severe attacks, as evidenced by the major cyberattack on a US hotel giant, where the NightSpire group released stolen internal data on the dark web.

Moreover, this incident is not an isolated case but rather one incident in an ongoing, large-scale attack by one of the most sophisticated and damaging organized cybercrime groups and syndicates worldwide.

This incident is also a clear indicator that cybersecurity is not an isolated or unique issue for businesses, but rather has become an integral component of operational sustainability and customer trust.

A Closer Look at Cl0p – A Professional and Ruthless Criminal Actor

Since emerging in 2020, the Cl0p Ransomware Group has become one of the top global threats in cyberspace. This organization, which Mandiant Cybersecurity associates with the ongoing financially driven effort behind a long history of the FIN11 cybercrime group, uses aggressive double-extortion tactics.

Before encrypting data, attackers steal it and use it to pressure victims into paying ransoms, threatening to publish the stolen information online if payment is not made.

Cl0p’s tactics are particularly disruptive. In late 2025, Mandiant and Google’s Threat Intelligence Group began issuing alerts regarding the “high-volume” campaigns being run by Cl0p. These same campaigns incorporated the compromise of corporate email accounts to access sensitive company information, and they used these compromised corporate email accounts to deliver direct threats against the executives at these companies, which puts enormous pressure on these executives to pay their ransoms.

As indicated by Mandiant’s CTO Charles Carmakal, they have seen an increase in high-volume e-mail campaigns launched from the hundreds of already compromised e-mail accounts.

Currently, the Cl0p group has claimed to have victimized at least 1,172 companies across a number of industries globally and regularly focuses on targeting organizations perceived to have the weakest security postures and/or those that hold highly sensitive operational data.

Because of the likelihood of having to pay the ransom to avoid exposure and downtime, Cl0p is highly successful in coercing substantial ransoms from organizations that fit either or both of these two characteristics.

Why Cybercriminals Are Eyeing Food Producers

The attack on Brinks NZ demonstrates the trend towards targeting critical infrastructure and supply chain operations within the increasing world of cybercrime. A significant issue facing food/aquaculture businesses from hacker groups such as Cl0p includes the following reasons:

• Critical operations: Food businesses must maintain a continuous flow of their products to stay viable and not suffer substantial losses due to lost sales, spoiled inventory, and possible forfeiture of sales contracts. All these factors will increase pressure on a food business to pay the hackers quickly so they can restore operations.
• Complex supply chains: Present-day food production involves a number of complex relationships among farmers, processors, distributors, and retailers. When cybercriminals attack one link, it triggers a domino effect that disrupts other links, giving them the chance to demand higher ransom amounts to restore operations.
• Extremely valuable data: Companies also carry the potential for cyber criminals to access very private, sensitive data that could lead to extortion of food businesses. The data includes financial data, logistics, and proprietary recipes along with other personal information about employees and business associates. This type of data has very significant value to cyber criminals.

This targeting of sensitive data is a universal tactic. Cl0p and similar groups frequently attack sectors like healthcare, where stolen personal information carries immense leverage. A recent parallel example is the ransomware attack on a Columbia medical practice, which exposed the Social Security Numbers of thousands of patients, demonstrating the severe personal and legal consequences of such breaches.

Businesses can protect themselves from cyberattacks by consistently applying a range of best-practice techniques. The most effective cyberattack prevention methods include creating complex and distinct passwords, utilizing multi-factor authentication, and updating all systems regularly to patch any vulnerabilities.

Regular training of employees for the purpose of helping them identify phishing email attempts and other types of scams is also extremely important. Additionally, organizations should have a formalized incident response plan to specify the way they will contain threats and notify people during an incident of a data breach.

Finally, companies that have regular and secure backups as well as have maintained their backup in a safe offline location(s) will enable that organization to resume using its systems after a ransomware attack without having to pay criminals to unlock its data. Testing the restoration of backups when the need arises is important as well.

The alleged cyberattack directed at Brinks NZ demonstrates that in today’s interconnected society, cybersecurity impacts all facets of life. Both a family-owned poultry producer in New Zealand and a multinational technology company must adhere to the same principles of security: prepare for the worst, remain on guard, and remember that preventing a data breach is significantly less expensive than repairing the damages resulting from a breach.