Farmers should take the threat of cyberattacks seriously due to the damaging follow-on effects a compromised business can have on the rest of the supply chain, an expert has warned.
Criminal groups are targeting farmers more due to the flow-on disruption to other industries, such as transport and retail, according to Naq Cyber co-founder, Nadia Kadhim.
Figures from insurer Hiscox show that small businesses in the UK are the target of an estimated 65,000 attempted cyber attacks every day.
Quite simplistic but sophisticated methods are being used, Nadia explains, and agriculture is an easy target due to the use of technology in many different aspects of the business.
A GDPR expert turned cybersecurity start-up founder, she has partnered with Farm491, a hub based at the Royal Agricultural University, after being contacted by several farms that had been breached and seeking support.
One specific agricultural issue they've been investigating is the large risk for some farming businesses to be targeted by animal rights or vegan activists.
Nada says farms can be supported to take preventative action by scanning specific parts of the web to see if the farm name or location has been mentioned and if there are public events planned.
“Unfortunately, when SMEs are hacked, the financial loss can be between £8,000 to £300,000 alongside the loss of business, reputational damage, and operational disturbance," Nada explained.
"In addition, the Information Commissioner’s Office has also started to crack down on data breaches and non-compliance with GDPR with fines ranging from £15,000 - 25,000.”
Naq Cyber has also noticed more farmers creating websites to support their marketing, particularly during the pandemic, which can further increase their risk to cyber-attacks.
“We take their website details and then scan the ‘dark web’, a hidden collective of internet sites favoured by hackers, for any mention of the farm which then feeds into their system," Nadia says.
"We use this combined with best practice cyber security to then create a Cyber Security Action Plan which details, step by step, what the company needs to do to protect themselves and why it is important.”
Naq Cyber provide the tools and support for farmers to boost their business’ resilience against the threat of a data breach or cyber-attack.
