As the agri-food sector increasingly embraces automation with GPS, robotic systems, cloud-connected devices, and AI-driven tools to boost efficiency and crop yields, cyber risks have been rapidly escalating. With ransomware attacks as the primary threat, the food and agriculture sector ranks as the seventh most targeted industry in the United States, just behind sectors like manufacturing and financial services.
Many of the technologies driving the digital transformation in food and agriculture were designed long before cyberattacks became a serious concern, leaving critical vulnerabilities throughout the supply chain. With these systems not built to withstand modern threats, the sector has become a prime target for cyber-criminals.
FBI Special Agent Gene Kowel, in a speech at the bureau’s second annual Agriculture Threats Symposium in Nebraska in August emphasized that “The cyber risk and national security threat to farms, ranches, and food processing facilities is growing exponentially. The threats are evolving, becoming more complex and severe.”
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