World Grain - May 2022 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor
Cybersecurity is no
longer a luxury
W
hile the age of Information
Technology has benefited
agribusiness in myriad ways,
an anonymous group of bad actors continue
to threaten the industry in ways
that perhaps weren't envisioned when
the World Wide Web was first introduced
as a widely available technology
in the 1990s.
A report from CrowdStrike in 2021
noted that of the 160 computer hacking
groups that the company tracks, 13
were identified as targeting the agriculture
industry. The US Federal Bureau of
Investigation reported that at least eight
hacks of agriculture companies occurred
in the United States in 2021, including
grain cooperatives in Iowa and Minnesota
that were partially shut down for
several weeks as the ransomware hackers
demanded seven-figure payments to
end their hacking operation.
The threat appears to be growing,
with ransomware costs totaling an estimated
$6 trillion (yes trillion, with a t),
according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
And with geopolitical tensions boiling
over, the threat of state-based cyberattacks
on other nations, which could include
their agricultural assets, has never
been greater.
Speaking to North American grain
elevator managers at the 2022 GEAPS
Exchange in Kansas City, Dan Hanson,
senior vice president of management liability
and client experience for Marsh
& McLennan (MMA), warned that the
global agricultural supply chain is a
prime target for cybercriminals.
He emphasized that it's not just the
Fortune 500-type firms that are targeted.
In fact, more than 60% of the
cyberattacks in the United States are
on small- and mid-sized companies,
including some that have faced devastating
consequences for not spending
adequate time and resources on cyber6
security.
The US House of Representatives
Small Business Subcommittee on
health and technology recently reported
that 60% of small businesses (defined
as 100 employees or less) fail after a
cyberattack. However, a recent MMA
survey of agricultural companies found
that only 56% of respondents ranked
cybersecurity as a top-five risk management
priority. Eighty-two percent
believe they are prepared to prevent a
cyberattack, yet only 45% said they had
a plan in place. Even more troubling is
that 87% of all agribusinesses surveyed
did not have a contingency plan to manage
security breaches.
Agribusiness, which traditionally has
excelled in business strategies focusing
on production, safety and efficiency,
must make security - with a heavy emphasis
on cybersecurity - a greater priority.
It should no longer be viewed as
a luxury but a necessity, as ransomware
and other cyber threats are only going to
increase in the coming years.
Hanson emphasized that cybersecurity
isn't simply an IT function; it's a
way of doing business that must start
at the executive level and filter through
an entire organization. That means continuously
educating employees on how
to handle text and phone scams, phishing
emails and ransomware threats. It
also requires significant expenditures
to make sure computer
system defenses
are updated, firewalls
are installed, data is
backed up and endpoint
protection software
is utilized.
Failing to take these cybersecurity
measures would be penny wise and
pound foolish.
Arvin Donley
Editor
Managing Editor
Associate Editor
Digital Media Senior Editor
European Correspondent
China Consultant
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World Grain - May 2022

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