The Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC) is warning ag producers about cyber threats facing the food and agriculture sector.
As the state agency in charge of assessing and sharing threat-related information, the CAIC is cautioning those in the Food and Agriculture sector to review their systems for any potential vulnerabilities. Businesses that rely on technology-based solutions, such as precision agriculture or automated production processes, are especially vulnerable.
Most reported attacks on food and ag businesses are ransomware attacks, with ransom demands running anywhere between $9 million to $30 million USD. Additional threats include the exploitation of flaws in agricultural hardware such as autonomous harvesters or pesticide-spraying drones.
The CIAC recommends several best practices to mitigate the threat of cyber attacks:
- Back up your data regularly. Ensure your most critical data is saved as a hard copy (ie: on a separate hard drive), so you don’t need your primary computer or the internet to access it. This helps mitigate the need to pay for critical data that could potentially be held for ransom.
- Develop an incident response plan. If an incident occurs, outline the steps for who the organization would contact and in what order. Develop a communications plan to complement the incident response plan.
- Perform regular vulnerability scanning to proactively identify and mitigate weaknesses;
- Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks, which can provide hackers with access to unsecured devices. Consider using a virtual private network (VPN) for your main connection.
- Create strong passwords and use multi-factor authentication when possible for logins;
- Review user accounts to ensure access is terminated for employees no longer employed with the organization and ensure users only have access to appropriate areas of the organization’s system;
- Keep up on cybersecurity awareness and train your team to remain vigilant against malicious scams and links.