How can farmers defend themselves against cybergangs?
The FBI warns that agriculture companies are now ransomware targets. Here’s why it’s happening and what they can do to prevent it
The field of agriculture (pun intended) is experiencing rapid developments as it incorporates advanced computational abilities. It’s not only about the presence of computers but also about data collection and even artificial intelligence and machine learning taking place in the fields.
Ransomware gangs understand this. The FBI also understands this. That is why it just issued another warning, according to which Agri companies are becoming a target for ransomware attacks, especially during harvest season. The reason for that is two-folded:
- They are considered more likely to pay
- Agriculture companies don’t often perceive themselves as cyber-related. Hence, they might not be prepared conceptually for these attack vectors
And indeed, only last year, we had a slew of ransomware attacks addressed at agriculture businesses. JBS Foods, Schreiber, Crystal Valley, and New Cooperative are some companies breached. Unsurprisingly, many of these companies, even though they are leveraging technological capabilities, are still operating legacy software, as is the case in many sectors that have difficulty adapting quickly to security and IT changes.
These problems are becoming even more severe with distributed computing systems. While holding a promise for a considerable potential for profits, it also opens the door for significant harm from threat actors.
HUB’s experts emphasize that ransomware attacks usually come with a specific target. That target is the processes that are at the heart of the business. The hackers look for the control centers that affect the core business machines. They know that once those are disabled, they can shut down all of the business. Take the core down, and you take down the entire operation.
That’s even more so when it comes to edge computing that the agriculture industry is leveraging nowadays. The computational power is now closer to the edge, far away from the comfort of traditional data centers. But the security level at the edge is not aligned with the threats to which the edge is exposed.
The solutions needed to mitigate these threats must demonstrate the security level of data centers also at the edge. Furthermore, it must also preserve the unique advantages of distributed edge computing.
HUB Security designs its solutions to enable true zero-trust isolation for the “crown jewels” of all enterprises. It does so by creating a secure execution environment for its business apps. This paradigm shift in cybersecurity mitigates this new line of risks and threats, turning the table on known and unknown attack vectors by governing the data and processes in the network and the machines.
