Latest from Rich Jackson

I come from a dairy farming family here in Cornwall, and my cousin remains firmly in the agricultural feeds sector - working globally for many years. I also live in the midst of a large crop farming community, with hundreds of people employed in the sector across the region.

So, as a cyber security professional with this kind of background - this was an article hard to write in many ways - but represents an incredibly powerful message (warning) for a very important sector, that has huge implications for our critical infrastructure and supply chain.

Why?

The FBI this week released trend analytics on the most prolific ransomware activity, broken down by the specific gangs responsible - and the sectors they have been targeting.

Amongst the common sectors we know to be hot targets (healthcare, technology, financial services, government etc) there`s a fresh sector creeping up the attack rankings.

This is a sector investing heavily in digital adoption and transformation, and the emerging data during 2021 indicated this would be the sector seeing the highest increase of cyber attack in 2022.

Smart farming (also known as precision agriculture) represents the future landscape for agricultural advancement. It has the potential to fulfil global food demand and supply - from identifying the real-time status of crops and soil moisture content, the deployment of drones in the application of pesticides - the opportunities are seemingly limitless. That said, its now clear that the adoption of internet-connected devices has introduced numerous, significant vulnerabilities within the smart farm ecosystem.

Last year the FBI highlighted the threat posed by the "BlackMatter" ransomware gang to farming companies, followed up by a report in October. The report focused on the fact that BlackMatter had attempted to extort $5.9m from Iowa farming collective "The New Cooperative", but that the attack was unsuccessful because the company managed to?proactively take its network offline to minimise the damage.

A week later the gang targeted a grain co-operative, Crystal Valley, with a similar attack, though it is not known what level of ransom was demanded or if it was paid. These agriculture cyberattacks took place during the harvest season, a key time for the industry.

This is a common theme in all sectors - attacks taking place when a sector/industry is under the most pressure, which leads to lack of cyber focus and an increased chance of success - for the ransom attack.

The use of IoT (Internet of Things) is a major advancement in agricultural technology, and its being deployed without security in mind.

Sensors, connected devices and networks that are connected to the internet (yet not secured sufficiently) are considered easy meat for organised cyber criminal gangs. IoT devices are common targets or points of entry for attackers - because they often receive reduced cyber security focus,

Farmers of all sized and description are now deploying GPS mapping, soil sensors, drones, and even automated tractors. With each of these, an opportunity is created for cyber criminals to strike.

Ransomware in particular.

Most modern farming equipment is based on sophisticated software, allowing for better data control and yield. As with all sectors, with innovation comes risk - and agriculture finds itself sharply in focus - alongside the more "traditional" cyber threat sectors.

And its not just the US facing a cyber threat, the UK is also sharply in focus. More and more farmers are launching websites to promote their business, and have in recent years been targeted by animal rights or vegan activists.

What next?

The sector has already been burned by aggressive cyber attacks, and it is globally a "connected" industry. The threat will only continue to grow, and with the current pressures growing as a result of supply shortages via the war in Ukraine, and sanctions against Russia, it is a fair assumption that the most powerful of cyber criminal gangs will look towards agriculture and farming as very lucrative target.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is working with the National Farmers Union to support the Agriculture and Farming Sector - and has produced a guide especially created for the industry.

Thanks for reading, as always please engage and discuss - debate is essential in solving the problem of cyber crime.

Rich