b'CYBERSECURITY STARTS FIRST WITH AWARENESS, THEN EDUCATIONAS AGRICULTURE DIVES INTO A DIGITAL AGE, ITS TIME TO LEARN THE RISKS.BY: ALEX MARTINW e live in a digital agealmost everyone has an email, ayou over the barrel, then maybe youre going to pay that ransom social media account or a credit card. With any of those,he says. Its an extortion approach to make illicit profit. Over the youre at risk for a cybersecurity attack. last decade, its been more in the data side, where the criminal As agriculture moves into a new, digital age filled with data,cybermarket was really about exfiltrating data and selling it on cloud-based services, and more, cybersecurity needs to be athe black market.bigger discussion. Unfortunately, the more the sector digitizes,Typically, though, Harknett says cybercriminals arent look-the bigger a target you become for a cybercriminal attack. ing to completely cripple society. As an example, he mentions the Why do you rob banks? Thats where the money is, saysColonial pipeline shutdown in 2021 in the Eastern U.S. Richard Harknett, professor of political science and director ofOne of the things that was interesting is that the criminal the school of public and international affairs at the University ofgang involved with this overseas actually came back as a Whoa, Cincinnati. In cyberspace, for many actors, the primary motivationsorry, we didnt mean to do that,they kind of overshot, he is that there is money to be made on the criminal side. However,says. Cybercriminals try to stay below the level of disruption the opportunities also extend to national security, so we the pur- that would bring in actors like the U.S. Department of Justice or suit of cybersecurity has to be concerned with both motivations. Defense Department. If theyre going to make money, they want to keep making money. UNDERSTAND THE MOTIVESWhile theres differences between national cybersecurity, thereLEARNING AND ADJUSTINGare adversaries of the U.S. who recognize the important partKnowing whats most vulnerable in your company and how it agricultureand thus, the seed industryplays globally. Bycan be exploited is the first step to understanding cybersecurity disrupting agriculture in one country, you can disrupt economicattacks, but the bigger of an online or digital presence you have, competitors. According to the Cybersecurity Guide, stopping onethe more vulnerable you leave yourself. portion during harvest can reverberate throughout the entireVulnerability is the key idea agribusinesses need to be aware industry, resulting in price spikes or shortages.of the more they work digitally. And Harknett says finding vul-There are plenty of examples of food industry disruptions,nerabilities happens fast. including a ransomware attack that disrupted several of JFCAgriculture needs to leverage this technology for greater Internationals IT systems, which impacted its Europe groupproductivity gains, but as you do that as a business, you also have and even a ransomware attack on JBS, the worlds largest meatto understand youre taking on all the vulnerabilities that are company, which crippled a large portion of the meat supply chainbuilt in this interconnected space, he says. during 2021. Be intentional about your adoption of technology, but dont The attack on JBS affected facilities in Colorado, Iowa,rely on hope as your risk management plan and hope It wont Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Texas and stoppedhappen to me!operations at 13 different plants, according to the CybersecurityAsk questions like, Am I buying more domestic tech? and Guide. Unfortunately, this set off a rapid effect.What kind of contracts do I have if Im using webservices for Wholesale meat prices soared as the balance betweenmy data collection, and then pry into your vendors background supply and demand immediately became out of whack, theas well. Ask: What backups do they have? Are they prone to Guide says. Farms and ranches could not get their animals todisruption? Do they have any obligation to pay you back for that market, and the resulting oversupply drove wholesale pricesdisruption? down. Restaurants and resellers could not get processed andNot only that but helping your business employees understand packaged meat. The corresponding scarcity drove consumerthe risks of different things such as spam emails is important. prices skyward. By understanding and asking questions about your vulner-With the stakes high because of the need to maintain aabilities online, youre one step closer to bettering your cyber-stable food supply, JBS felt it necessary to acquiesce to thesecurity.hackers demand and pay the ransom. After negotiating with the hackers, JBS paid the criminals $11 million in bitcoin, the Guide concludes.For many companies, production efficiency is a big value brought to the table that cybercriminals look to exploit. Just like the attack on JBS, you mostly see this with a ransomware attack. What theyre going after there is leveraging the fact that ifWant more tips on Cybersecurity? Watch our conversation with Richard I disrupt this most valuable aspect of your business and I haveat: https://youtu.be/DA8PrY5a6Z034IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'