Hackers threaten to spill the secrets behind America’s food safety giant Neogen

ShinyHunters has claimed a breach of Neogen, giving the food safety giant until September 1st to respond before leaking the data.

ShinyHunters, the notorious cybercrime gang, claims to have breached Neogen Corporation, a biotechnology company whose products are used across the food and animal safety industries.

The attackers have issued a final warning demanding that the company make contact before September 1st. If demands are not met, they’re threatening to leak the data.

“This is a final warning to reach out by September 1st, 2026, before we leak, along with several annoying (digital) problems that'll come your way. Make the right decision, don't be the next headline,” the attackers wrote on their leak site on the dark net.

However, so far, ShinyHunters has not published any data samples that would give a clue as to what type of data may have been exfiltrated, if any.

A blow to the food safety giant

Based in Mitchinga, the corporation describes its role as protecting “every link of the world's food supply chain,” with products spanning agriculture, animal health, food production, and laboratory testing.

Its food safety business includes rapid diagnostic tests and laboratory solutions designed to identify foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli, as well as allergens, mycotoxins, and natural toxins.

Neogen also sells animal health and safety products, including veterinary instruments, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, topical treatments, and diagnostic products for livestock, poultry, and companion animals.

Why a food safety company could be an attractive target

At this point, there is no confirmation of what data may be at risk. However, the potential consequences of a breach of a company operating across the food supply chain may be severe.

Neogen's products are used by food producers, processors, laboratories, agricultural businesses, and animal-health operations. Information about customers, testing processes, internal systems, or proprietary technologies could be valuable to criminals.

A successful intrusion could therefore create risks ranging from corporate data exposure to disruption of business operations.

Cybernews researchers, who constantly monitor similar data breaches, believe that the stolen data may include employee information or operational details.“Leaking such data would result in risks targeted towards employees, whether personal or targeted towards the company,” our researchers said.

“This could increase risks in supply chain attacks that could, for example, delay food testing kit production, which could also affect companies that use these testing kits made by Neogen.”

Cybernews has reached out to the company for comment. We will update this article once we receive a response.

Who are ShinyHunters?

While it is not uncommon for cybergangs to bluff, ShinyHunters has made the headlines for many high-profile breaches.

Just recently, the gang leaked data allegedly belonging to Logitech’s subsidiary StreamLabs.

ShinyHunters is also behind a spree of social engineering attacks targeting employees by impersonating IT support staff. These attacks phish for Okta access to target companies worldwide. Among the latest victims is the American telehealth wellness platform Hims&Hers.

Just recently, the gang targeted cybersecurity firm ReliaQuest. Also, ShinyHunters was behind the attack against Microsoft’s and Meta’s data center provider, CyrusOne.

In June, the gang hit Sysco, the world’s largest food distributor, and American fashion giant Ralph Lauren.

ShinyHunters is also believed to be behind the extortion campaign targeting Oracle's PeopleSoft enterprise software and accounting giant EY.

Previously this year, the gang hit Dutch telecommunications giant Odido and the European Commission.