The Rise of Precision Agriculture Presents Cyber Threats to the Food System

Precision agriculture involves using GPS, satellite imagery, internet-connected sensors, and other technologies to collect data for better farming.

FREMONT, CA: Farmers are adopting precision agriculture, utilizing GPS data, satellite imaging, internet-connected devices, and other technologies to farm more effectively. Extremists, terrorists, and hostile states can also disrupt food supplies using these approaches' technology.

The conflict in Ukraine and rising fuel and fertilizer costs have worsened a situation that has increased pressure on food farmers around the globe. Farmers' efforts to produce more food with fewer resources are straining the food production system to the breaking point.

Many U.S. farmers are looking to current information technologies to aid crop production management decision-making, and operations. These precision agriculture approaches result in more efficient use of land, water, fuel, fertilizer, and pesticides, allowing farmers to produce more, lower expenses, and have a smaller environmental footprint.

The introduction of precision farming coincides with significant disruption in the global supply chain and a rise in the number of foreign and domestic hackers able to exploit this technology.

New exploitation opportunities

Cyberattacks against agricultural targets are not a distant possibility; they are currently occurring. In 2021, for instance, a ransomware attack shut down one-fifth of the beef processing factories in the United States, with one corporation paying attackers roughly $11 million. REvil, a group based in Russia, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Integrating technologies into farm equipment, such as GPS-guided tractors and artificial intelligence, may enhance the likelihood that hackers may target this equipment. Even though farmers may not be ideal targets for ransomware attacks, hackers with other motivations, such as terrorists, may find farms alluring.

An attacker could, for instance, attempt to exploit flaws in fertilizer application systems, which could result in a farmer applying too much or too little nitrogen fertilizer to a certain crop. A farmer could wind up with either a smaller yield than anticipated or an overfertilized field, resulting in waste and long-term environmental consequences.

Slow to recognize the danger

Disrupting key industries and infrastructure yields greater profits for attackers. This indicates that the increasing pressure on the global food supply raises the stakes and strengthens the temptation to disrupt the U.S. farm industry.

In contrast to other key industries, such as finance and healthcare, the agriculture industry has been sluggish in understanding cybersecurity dangers and implementing countermeasures. There are multiple potential causes for this sluggishness.

Many farmers and agricultural providers have not considered cybersecurity a significant issue compared to other threats, such as floods, fires, and hail. A 2018 Department of Homeland Security research indicated that many precision agriculture farmers in the United States did not completely comprehend the cyber threats posed by precision agriculture and did not take these cyber risks seriously enough.

This lack of readiness leads to a second reason—insufficient government monitoring and regulation. Agriculture does not have the same cybersecurity remedies and best practices as other industries with critical infrastructure.

The Biden administration has signaled its willingness to assist farmers in securing their cyber infrastructure, but as of this writing, it has not issued general guidelines to aid in this effort.

All-inclusive approach

The federal, state and local governments must provide policy direction and resources to prevent this cyberattack, as well as academia and industry.

From the standpoint of academic research, multidisciplinary approaches involving precision agriculture, robotics, cybersecurity, and political science can assist find potential answers. Agricultural equipment manufacturers and other industry organizations can contribute by developing and building cybersecurity equipment. This would result in the construction of agricultural equipment that maximizes food production outputs and decreases vulnerability to cyberattacks.