Requirement of Cybersecurity for Food and Agricultural Sector

Through this article we’ll gain a thorough understanding as to why there is a growing need of Cybersecurity for Food and Agricultural Industry. Since the food and agricultural industry are among the most important part in any nation’s economic progress. Hence, each and every individual living globally is either directly or indirectly connected to this industry. The threat actors have not specifically targeted the food and agriculture industry if we look it from historical perspective.

However, the world’s reliance on a well-established food supply chain network, is now seen by these threat actors as a chance to do their illegal activities in order to accomplish their evil objectives. These objectives often involve monetary gains, but it can also have other objectives as well such as political violence and social hacking. In certain areas where the food and agricultural sector has been loose in its rules and regulations regarding cybersecurity, there is still some work to be done in order to improve security for this industry.

The Need of Cybersecurity for Food and Agricultural Sector

Automation is a crucial and important part of the food and agricultural industry’s ability to maintain competitive prices and efficient distribution because they may be isolated from the internet via dedicated or segmented networks, systems that enable automation are frequently believed to be at a lesser risk for a cyberattack to happen. This notion that there is a technological barrier separating automated food production systems from the world of the internet is a matter of debate. These systems are rarely isolated fully, and even when they are, the operating system and production software must always be updated.

Cybercriminals do not require access to the automated systems that food and agricultural industries generally need in order to halt production, even if they were hypothetically cut off the full access from the internet. Hence, the food and agriculture industries have adopted digital business systems and use of automation technology for production more quickly than they have modernized their cybersecurity operations. Therefore, it is crucial to implement contemporary cyber defenses to safeguard the global food supply chain. Additionally, when developing new automation systems, cybersecurity must be prioritized.

The Cybersecurity Challenges for Food and Agricultural Sector

A rise in cyberattacks has accompanied the development of agriculture-related technology. Before the emergence of consolidated multinational agribusinesses, a large portion of the world’s food was produced by small farmers for a local population. In today’s world, food production and distribution are influenced by the some large scale economies that have encouraged the growth of giant firms in other industries as well in which the use of automation technology for production have become necessary.

Any nation’s food supply chain network is made up of a large number of interlinked firms. For instance, a standstill or slowdown during harvest season can have an impact on the entire industry as food processing facilities and distribution networks experience the consequences of possible events that may have occurred weeks or months earlier. Restaurants and retail grocery stores require a dependable source of food supplies that is also easily accessible. If any major disruption in the food supply chain network happens, it may cause prices to rise or supplies to become restricted, both of which have an impact on people’s daily life.

The world’s food supply chain is fragile, as seen by examples of prior cyberattacks in this industry, and is controlled by a very limited number of significant food businesses. Food manufacturing systems and business networks are under risk because cybercriminals want to stop production, thereby, affecting the lives of people living all around the world. Any large-scale food production or distribution operations that are shut down might cause an untenable situation that gives cybercriminals unnecessary advantage. Therefore, a proactive and immediate solution is necessary to avoid unwanted public unrest.

Cybersecurity Solutions for Food and Agricultural Sector

Generally speaking, the food and agriculture sectors may need to catch up in terms of cybersecurity, as it has been already indicated in the above discussion. Hence, there are some cybersecurity solutions that are available for businesses in this industry which they can adopt in order to protect and secure themselves from the threat of a cyberattack.

1) Employee Training – Perhaps the best deterrent against cyberattacks that all food and agriculture businesses must employ is cybersecurity training for all their employees or staff members. As the social engineering component of most of the attacks usually begins with email phishing scams, which can be very difficult to detect because they claim to be from reliable sources. Hence, businesses can be able to serve their customers through this realistic first step of protection by training their staff to be constantly watchful in seeing the obvious symptoms of a phishing email attack.

2) Regular Data Backup – The capability of criminal organizations to deploy malware intended to prevent businesses from accessing their crucial data is what makes ransomware attacks in the agricultural and food industry possible. The simplest feasible method to stop ransomware attackers is to keep an up-to-date backup. To prevent hackers from encrypting or stealing both the original files and backup copies, backup data should be separated from the original files.

3) Network Segmentation – Food/agriculture IT administrators can boost security by segmenting production from business networks and separating them into smaller segments. A company’s infrastructure can be logically divided into several parts, allowing isolated operation in the event of suspicious activity on one of the network’s sections. As previously stated, malware can still enter a network segment when updating programs, for example, making even segmented infrastructure insecure. Nevertheless, segmenting can stop dangerous malware from taking over the entire organization.

4) Software Upgrades & Regular Patching – Vendors frequently offer patches and upgrades to safeguard their consumers when vulnerabilities are found in computing devices and software. Hackers frequently take advantage of vulnerabilities for which patches are widely available because consumers fail to update their systems. System updating and installing patches on a regular basis helps to reduce numerous harmful risks.

The Conclusion

Hence from the above discussion, we can conclude this article by saying that use of modern cybersecurity solutions is the need of the hour for the food and agricultural industry in order to protect and secure the global food supply chain network. Like other industries, millions of people depend on food and agricultural industry in order to fulfil their demand of food for their livelihoods.

The fragile nature of this industry is a matter of concern and over reliance on modern and advanced digital systems to run businesses makes it even more vulnerable for a cyberattack to happen. Therefore, the entire industry must be protected and secured through effective cybersecurity measures.

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