Food supply chains across the world are vulnerable to malicious hackers due to the widespread use of modern farming machinery. This was according to a recent report by the UK’s report of Cambridge, which warned the automatic crop sprayers, drones and robotic harvesters were in danger of being hacked, as flaws in Agricultural hardware used to plant and harvest crops could be exploited. According to BBC new, the UK government had recently warned about the growing threat of cyber attackers. The report stated that although the latest generation of agricultural robots using artificial intelligence minimized human involvement and alleviated a labour shortage or increased yields, there were fears that they presented an inherent security risk. It also indicated that even the largest companies were not safe from cyber criminals who used ransom-ware to encrypt data and lock systems.
In 2021, JBS, one of the world’s largest meat processing companies paid US$ 11 Million in ransom to resolve a cyber-attack, while top US agricultural firm Agco was hit by ransom-ware attack in April this year, affecting production. An ‘ethical hacker’, who refers to himself as ‘Sick Codes’ and who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, said he had found vulnerabilities in systems used by a large multi-national equipment manufacturer. He added that it was simply a matter of time before a sophisticated hacker found critical vulnerabilities and “caused major disruptions to the already vulnerable food supply chains”. – Staff reporter
