Could Your Agribusiness Be a Ransomware Target This Planting Season?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a notification warning agricultural cooperatives about a notable increase in ransomware attacks during the critical seasons of planting and harvest. To serve as proof of the real threat, research by NordLocker has shown that agribusiness was among the top industries targeted by ransomware gangs in 2020-2021.
“Disrupting operations of agribusiness, including agricultural cooperatives, during key seasons may result not only in huge financial losses for some conglomerates. It may also drastically impact the food supply chain and result in surging product prices for a consumer, chaos in trading and stocks, spoiled food, or even its shortages,” explains Oliver Noble, a cybersecurity expert at NordLocker, an encrypted cloud service provider. “Well aware of the matter, cybercriminals look for vulnerabilities to exploit, and some agribusiness companies may unwillingly serve them in the form of lack of robust protection.”
What makes the agribusiness industry a lucrative target for ransomware gangs?
Agribusiness may be enticing to cyber racketeers because of the core processes that steer the industry. “The reputation of companies in this industry is largely built upon the on-time service delivery, for example, production and supply of seeds and fertilizers during the planting season, which is at risk during any delays caused by ransomware attacks,” says Oliver Noble. “This provides ransomware groups with conditions that make a payout more likely. Additionally, the industry may be a tempting target to ransomware gangs because of its relatively traditional business model, which is to a large degree yet to implement advanced cybersecurity solutions.”
Even though big companies have a higher probability of offering hackers larger ransoms, small companies are not safe either. “Small enterprises usually do not have the same cybersecurity checks in place as larger businesses, making them an easier target for ransomware attacks. For example, among 17 agribusiness companies that fell victim to ransomware in 2020-2021, there were a family-owned wholesale tree farm and California’s premier supplier of cherries and apples,” the expert notes.
How to protect your business from ransomware
Although ransomware attacks are evolving, Oliver Noble provides some easy-to-implement cybersecurity tactics to serve your business as defense:
- Make sure your employees use strong and unique passwords to connect to your systems. Better yet, implement multi-factor authentication.
- Secure your email by training your staff to identify signs of phishing, especially when an email contains attachments and links.
- Implement and enforce periodic data backup and restoration processes. An encrypted cloud might be the most secure solution.
- Adopt zero-trust network access, meaning that every access request to digital resources by a member of staff should be granted only after their identity has been appropriately verified.
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