By Shane Tews

Cyberattacks are the most significant national security
threat facing the United States today, according to our intelligence community. Data breaches,
computer viruses, malware, insecure interfaces, account hijacking, and
ransomware have the potential to cause tremendous economic harm across all
industries — as we have seen multiple times in the past year. As Sen. Chuck
Grassley (R-IA) noted on the Senate floor last week, an overwhelming number
of agriculture companies have already been targets of cybercrime. Cyberattacks
hit businesses at every level every day, and are not just targeting large
multinational corporations; as Grassley notes, they are happening to small
businesses and individuals.

Security by design should be incorporated at every level of
our connectivity and tech-support systems. While Grassley gets it right on how
devastating cyberattacks are to our nation’s agriculture sector, he should
apply these concerns to all levels of the economy, including hardware and
software (i.e., apps) on individual users’ devices. Grassley recently cosponsored legislation that would require app store
operators such as Apple and Google to allow unvetted, third-party apps onto
mobile devices and demand hardware providers give any software application the
ability to use all hardware and software features on any device. This
legislation would be a huge step away from the security-centric architecture of
many trusted ecosystems.

Mobile devices are popular because they can always be with
you — at home, in the office, or in the field. For farmers, mobile apps can deliver
key, up-to-date agricultural information to help inform decisions on location,
weather, market evaluations, sensor data, and work-task management. Farmers
have a long history of making decisions through on-the-ground observations, but
the ability of today’s technology to measure and monitor field and crop
conditions has meant more farm operations have embraced
just-in-time technology to make more informed decisions using mobile solutions.

Farmers have a high adoption rate of smartphones (over 90 percent).
Smartphones’ mobile applications offer improved operations, enhanced
productivity, and increased profits. Fast data access places a wealth of data
in farmers’ hands for real-time decisions on harvests, transportation, labor,
and maintenance. Having the ability to use data in the field means applications
on a farmer’s mobile device need to be secured just as well as their computers at
the office.

Apple’s recently released report describes the importance of its App Store security features:

Cybercriminals often reach their targets through social engineering or supply chain attacks and sometimes use popular social media networks to spread the scams and attacks. Most rely on third-party app stores or direct downloads to spread malicious apps. Developers and advertisers are also harmed by these attacks, mostly through piracy, intellectual property theft, and loss of advertising revenue.

With so many farming systems relying on GPS mapping, soil
sensors, drones, and automated tractors, there is plenty of room for malware to
disrupt these key systems through a unvetted app. App protection is just as
essential as administrative credentials for protecting a company’s control
system.

Grassley explained that an Iowa grain co-op was recently targeted by
a Russian cybercrime operator demanding a $5.9 million ransom. In further
testimony of just how much disruption to farming cycles and food production is
at stake, Grassley added that this was one of several attempted hacks of
agricultural systems this year.

A CrowdStrike intelligence report notes that of the 160 hacking groups or gangs the company
tracks, 13 were identified as targeting the agriculture industry. The FBI reported just last month that in 2021 there had been at
least eight hacks of agriculture companies. Such interference with our nation’s
food supply is simply unacceptable. This is why companies such as Apple and
Google have created a security design process to avoid malware and “Trojan” apps that can inject malicious code into industrial control systems
or internet-based applications through a mobile connection. For smaller farm
operations that are time-sensitive and operationally intensive, a cyberattack
that shuts down the farming cycle can cause several days of lost productivity,
along with a significant financial burden.

Why take this risk? So much innovation has been brought into
industries such as agriculture through technology that allows for better
planning, more efficient processes, and higher crop yields. Most of today’s
farming equipment has incorporated sophisticated software that allows for
better data control, transparency, and safety through curated software-security
designs. With these innovative strides must come robust security protections.

The importance of cybersecurity for the many layers of the
agriculture industry is also applicable to the entire digital ecosystem, which
needs protective measures at every level. Grassley has rung the alarm bell on
the importance of protecting the agricultural sector from cyber disruptions.
Let’s be sure this mission includes mobile devices: one of the most vital
assets for farmers and one of the most prominent targets for cyberattacks.

The post Cybersecurity in agriculture: Don’t forget about mobile appeared first on American Enterprise Institute – AEI.