John Phipps: Is a Possible Cyberwarfare Attack Looming for Your Farm? Why Tractors May Be Next

Last week I outlined how cyberwar, especially ransomware was now one of North Korea’s largest exports and how that success is spurring them to deploy more resources into those efforts. Other than being a curiosity does it have any impact on U.S. agriculture now or in the future?

Well, along with extortion money, North Korea hackers, like thousands of others, are getting what they perhaps crave the most: fame. Headlines like these get read in North Korea, and the hacker underworld rates hackers like NFL quarterbacks. Given these powerful motivations, hackers are raising their games. As a result, insurance companies are making tough decisions on whether ransoms or damage from a hack should be covered or not.

Interested in the impact on agriculture? Read more about how "Online Farm Equipment and Land Auction Site Crippled by Ransomware Attack" late last year. 

Regardless of their decisions, the losses from hacks are set to spiral and somebody will pay them. Any product or process that is dependent on secure data transmission could be a target. In fact, rather than spend resources attacking giant manufacturers or institutions that already have beefed up crypto security, why not look further down the food chain – targets that can’t afford better defenses? Hacking lots of those for modest ransoms might be a more lucrative strategy than swinging for the fences.

The Iowa coop hack last year could prove a precursor of this non-glamorous industry targeting. As we speak, Russia may be attacking Ukrainian computers as a military tactic. There is a growing linkage to cryptocurrency and hacking. They seem like natural partners to me, since one criticism of cryptocurrency is its likely use for money laundering. Another possible weakness is in computer chips themselves, not just software or internet connections.

My uninformed guess is tractors being hacked to override factory engine controllers or emission controls are ripe for self-inflicted hacks. Buying chips from unknown sources may be like putting small time bombs in your machinery. My predictions are far from expert, but the big reason I see increased danger from stealth cyberwar is because we still think of our industry as a simple chain largely outside the global economy, when it is really part of a vast web.

Agriculture cannot escape risk simply because we’re a relatively small part of the economy. We could be unexpected collateral damage when other industries are attacked. In fact, I think that’s how we’ll find out just how connected we are to the rest of the world.      

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