The agricultural sector threatened by cyber threats

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Farming today may look a little different than it did 100 years ago. By using data collected by GPS, satellite imagery, internet-connected sensors and other technologies, many farmers are able to farm more efficiently. Unfortunately, these advances can have a downside: opening you up to new threats.

Over time, farmers try to produce more food but with fewer resources, pushing the food production system to its breaking point. Precision farming technologies lead to more efficient use of land, water, fuel, fertilizers and pesticides so farmers can grow more crops, reduce costs and minimize their impact on the environment. Why shouldn’t farmers use these amazing abilities?

The conversation.com writes that these new technologies create opportunities for extremists, terrorists and opposing governments to attack agricultural machinery, with the aim of disrupting food production. The integration of technologies into agricultural equipment, from GPS-guided tractors to artificial intelligence, potentially increases the ability of hackers to attack such equipment. And while farmers aren’t ideal targets for ransomware attacks, farms could be tempting targets for hackers with other motives, including terrorists.

Disrupting sensitive industries and infrastructure gives attackers a higher return for their efforts. This means that increasing pressure on the global food supply raises the stakes and creates stronger motivation to disrupt the agricultural sector. Unlike other critical industries such as finance and healthcare, the agriculture industry has been slow to recognize cybersecurity risks and take steps to mitigate them. To date, most farmers do not see cybersecurity as a significant threat.

Many hackers have already started exploiting vulnerabilities in agricultural technologies, and the results always cause long-term damage to the environment. While other critical infrastructure industries have developed and released numerous countermeasures and best practices for cybersecurity, the same cannot be said for the agricultural sector.

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