Cybersecurity has been a major topic of discussion in recent years, with alleged Chinese spy balloons floating overhead, a major Appalachian oil pipeline hacked with ransomware, and questions about mysterious drones over the skies over New Jersey.
But one overlooked area of focus in this regard is agriculture, several prominent figures have said, especially as America’s agricultural states are set to lend their top political leaders to Washington in the new year.
Dakota State University President José-Marie Griffiths told Fox News Digital how geopolitically important the heartland has become, with several Dakotans gaining leadership or cabinet roles in the new year, including Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who chairs the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee. about Cybersecurity.
“I said many things in the past and in [congressional] testimony about my concerns about critical infrastructure in agriculture and food production, which came quite late to the cybersecurity critical infrastructure table,” Griffiths said.
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“People [will] They are beginning to realize that the agricultural vehicles they increasingly use are autonomous and connected to broadband. [via] satellite, and other ways in which they become vulnerable. And the people who wish to harm us are exploiting the vulnerabilities as much as they can.”
Residents in the center of the country are paying much more attention to the threats that China and other rivals pose to the U.S. agricultural sector, he said.
With technological advances, hackers can now find their way into the country’s combines, barns and freight train network, Griffiths and Rounds said separately.
Whether the cash crop is Pennsylvania potatoes, Florida oranges or Dakota wheat, all are crucial to the U.S. economy and supply chain, and all may be subject to cyber threats, Griffiths suggested.
Rounds told Fox News Digital that he has studied for some time the potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. agricultural sector when it comes to foreign actors and cybersecurity.
“It’s more than just the vehicles and stuff,” he said.
“A lot of this has to do with the infrastructure that we depend on. A good example is your water systems; your electrical systems… All of them right now are connected and they all have cyber entry points.
“And so, we have been, for a long period of time, looking at threats that could come from abroad from adversaries that would like to infiltrate not only water supplies, but also electrical systems… and in some cases , in sewer systems.”
Rounds said he and other lawmakers have focused on where evil actors can proverbially “shoot arrows at us” and figure out who they are and how to stop them.
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He said Chinese company Huawei had been selling cheap hardware to rural telecommunications entities and could infiltrate communications systems.
“Once we discovered that that was there… that they could be laying dormant materials that could be activated at a later date, we managed to get most of them out. But that’s just one example of the ways that rural areas can be a access route to the rest of our communication systems,” he stated.
Rounds said drones are increasingly being used in agriculture and are also at risk of being hacked.
Vehicles such as combines and tractors have also come a long way technologically in the short term and face similar challenges.
“A lot of that is now done with GPS. You get on your tractor, plug it in, and it will basically drive it for you. We leave people on those tractors, but at some point in the game, some of those may very well become autonomous, and are subject to cyber intervention…” he said.
Grain elevators can also be interfered with, hampering marketing and transportation, and jeopardizing the overall supply chain and a farmer’s ability to sell on the open market, Rounds said.
When asked if he preferred today’s agricultural sector to the pre-automation era, Rounds said it’s not about what he thinks, but what will happen in the future.
“We will have more and more autonomous vehicles used in agriculture. And the reason is that we don’t have the labor, and we replace it with machinery. The machinery will get bigger. It will become more sophisticated and we will be expected to do more things with fewer people operating,” he said.
“The supply chain is very critical. In many cases we depend on autonomy for much of the delivery of our resources, both to the farmer, but also to withdraw from the farmer in terms of a product that they want to market.”
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Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., left, meets with Pete Hegseth. (AP)
If that new technologically advanced system malfunctions or is hacked, it will greatly disrupt the ability to provide raw materials to the people and companies that “really make the bread” and so on.
Amit Yoran, CEO of exposure management firm Tenable, recently testified before the House Homeland Security Committee and spoke at length about cyber threats to America’s critical infrastructure.
When asked about cybersecurity in agriculture, Yoran recently told Fox News Digital that “there is no singular defense paradigm that can be applied effectively across all sectors.”
“Some critical infrastructure providers have a high degree of cybersecurity preparedness, strong risk management understanding and practices, and very robust security programs. Others are woefully underprepared,” said Yoran, whose company is based in Howard County, Maryland.
