John Deere is pushing for a world filled with fully autonomous farming equipment and practices. Technology like the cloud is now being used to address food shortages. A new app is helping farmers make the move to regenerative agricultural methods.
Agriculture Technology, or AgTech, is a thriving sector, with plenty of innovations designed to help farmers better feed their communities, and for the world’s grocery stores to have stocked shelves. But with the arrival of technology to the family farm, there’s a new concern that farmers have to think about.
Cybersecurity.
As farm and agricultural equipment increasingly moves online, the risk of cyber threats rises in tandem. And with the food supply in play, it’s imperative that these technologies stay as secure as possible.
In a recent CBC News article, computer scientist and Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity and threat intelligence Ali Dehghantanha explained that his lab had been contacted to investigate 11 cyberattack cases within the farm industry — which he describes as a “significant” number.
Most of these attacks involved ransomware largely originating from Eastern Europe. Their targets are North America, specifically.
“Unfortunately, due to lack of any security standard or security guideline in [the agriculture] field, we are seeing so many unpatched devices,” he says to CBC. “They are easy targets for the hackers.”
One project looking to help the agriculture sector when it comes to cybersecurity is Cyber Security Capacity in Canadian Agriculture, working through the non-profit Community Safety Knowledge Alliance. In addition to assistance, the group is also developing tools to better reinforce cybersecurity in Canada’s agriculture sector.
As the project’s lead investigator Janos Botschner told the CBC, “digital ag cybersecurity is still in its infancy globally. So it’s both a weakness and an opportunity for accelerated capacity building within the sector.”
“The rapidly evolving cyber threat environment within which Canada’s agricultural sector operates is outpacing the abilities of many farm and other agricultural operations to adapt and respond,” outlines Cal Corley, CEO of Community Safety Knowledge Alliance on the CSKA website.
“This initiative will help better understand and support the sector in closing critical gaps. This will go a long way in protecting this vital segment of our economy – and the livelihoods and well-being of so many families.”
Mitigating threats
In addition to the work of the above project, both Dehghantanha and Botschner agree that while farmers can take steps (eg. password management) to help ensure their data and equipment stays safe, regulators also need to take action.
For starters, a standard cybersecurity guideline for the agricultural sector, with governments and tech companies working together to help farmers.
Botschner compares it to a “cyber barn raising,” to the CBC, “to help one another tackle this important challenge in ways that make sense for producers and that really help the sector as a whole to be more resilient.”
