Risk management is by no means a new concept for farmers and people working in agriculture, but as farms become digital operations, cyber security has become a critical area of risk management.
Digital business assets should be identified and protected the same way a rancher protects livestock from coyotes sniffing along the fence, says agri-food cybersecurity expert and behavioural scientist Janos Botschner.
Botschner is a senior associate with the non-profit Community Safety Knowledge Alliance, where he led a multi-year research project looking at cybersecurity capacity in Canadian agriculture.
Speaking with RealAgriculture following his presentation at the CropConnect Conference in Winnipeg, Botschner says he’s convinced understanding a business’s digital risks can also be a business development opportunity.
“If you have a really good line of sight into any of your digital operations… you’ll be better able to manage your bottom line as well as see new business opportunities that can help you to thrive as a farm business or as part of the broader food value chain,” he explains.
Common digital vulnerabilities in farming include weak passwords, improper system configurations, and poor data sharing practices. He recommends always using complex, non-obvious passwords, and creating regular back-ups of key files. As farms increasingly rely on third party technology providers, it’s important to ask vendors and suppliers about their digital safeguards.
Flying under the radar may sound nice, but it’s a poor risk management strategy.
“The idea of security through obscurity doesn’t hold anymore. The world is connected. So someone across the planet is as close as your next door neighbour when it comes to cyber vulnerabilities or cyber threats,” he says. “You have to take it seriously. You could be targeted in Winkler, just like somebody could be targeted in Toronto, New York, London or anywhere else.”
Listen to/watch our conversation below, as Botschner discusses the findings of his research on cyber risk in Canadian agriculture, the rise of AI, whether increasingly volatile geopolitics will lead to more cyber attacks, the role of broader society in making sure farms and the food system remain resilient to cyber threats, and more:
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