MANAGING THE RISK OF
Cybersecurity experts
say every company,
no matter the size,
By Sharla Ishmael
is at risk of
a cyberattack.
The recent cyberattack on JBS, one of the world’s largest
meat processors and a North American Renderers
Association member, was no doubt a wake-up call for many
involved in agriculture, including those in the rendering
business. The ransomware attack affected JBS servers in
North America and Australia and not only temporarily shut
down much of the company’s beef processing operations in
the United States (US), but also caused disruption to supply
chains and cattle markets. The attack led to the company
paying $11 million in ransom.
According to a company press release, JBS had mitigation
protocols, including redundant systems and encrypted backup
servers, that enabled the company to quickly recover and
resume production. Do not assume, however, that only large
corporations are at serious risk for ransomware and other
cybercrimes like business email compromise, insider threats,
intellectual property theft, social media manipulation,
and more. Small to mid-size companies that may not have
robust cybersecurity protocols are just as vulnerable as
larger ones. During the 2021 CyberAg Symposium in May, a
panel of US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and
a representative of Perdue Farms discussed cyber threats in
food and agriculture.
“When it comes to the targets of these types of attacks,
most people think they’re going to be after the so-called big
fish, or really large organizations that have a lot of money,”
said David Ring, FBI cyber division section chief. “But in
reality, cybercriminals seek out targets of opportunity and,
oftentimes, those mid and small companies tend to be
opportunistic targets for these folks.” He provided a glimpse
into the scale of cybercrimes against businesses.
“The Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov is a
website where individuals and businesses can report these
types of attacks,” Ring explained. “In 2020, IC3 reported
about 20,000 business email compromise reports . . . and an
adjusted loss of more than $1.8 billion.”
Keep in mind those are just reported cases and are
likely to be a very small fraction of the actual number of
cyberattacks carried out that year. With ransomware attacks,
the ransoms that are being demanded—and paid—have
gone up significantly. Ring stated that monetary losses to
ransomware were up 225 percent globally in 2020.
“There are probably a lot of reasons why the amounts
have gone up,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s very
simple. It is a malicious actor getting into your system and
paralyzing it; basically, taking it hostage and not releasing it
until they are paid. And so, it’s a significant threat, maybe
not in the number of instances of things like business email
compromise, but when you talk about it from a financial
standpoint . . . in some really bad scenarios, the entirety of
your business’ capability to operate, taken out for a significant
period of time, can absolutely destroy an organization.”
Another problem for renderers and affiliated businesses
stems from both the increased sophistication of hackers’
technology as well as the early victims of these cyberattacks—
healthcare organizations, energy companies, government
entities, and so on—hardening their systems against further
intrusion. So, the cybercriminals move on to easier targets.
In addition, the inherent nature of the rendering industry
makes it extra vulnerable without even considering the
threat posed by radical animal-rights activists determined to
take down animal agriculture by any means necessary.
“The food and agriculture industries are certainly
significant targets,” Ring stated. “Why would somebody
potentially target a farmer or smaller business? Disruption is
a significant part of what ransomware actors and other types
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