As the adoption of data-driven agtech grows, the potential for cyber attacks on agribusinesses increases with criminals able to gain access to important business information via computerised agricultural machinery and systems.
IT provider Aliva has been working with the Agtech and Logistics Hub (Powered by AgriBusiness Connect) as part of efforts to improve cyber security in the agriculture sector.
Aliva General Manager Operations Glynn Henderson said the Brisbane-based business had a real focus on providing services to operations west of the capital, including agribusinesses.
Although there is a real and growing risk of agribusinesses being hacked as they adopt more internet-connected technologies, many operations aren’t increasing their cyber security measures.
“(A cyber attack) is not a matter of if, but a matter of when,” Mr Henderson said.
“So really, it’s about saying ‘well, look at what’s in place within your business so you have that cyber resilience, so you have that capability to get through a cyber event but also that business continuity, which I think is really key.
“When you get attacked – what do you do, how are you operating, what happens to your business, what happens to your customers, what happens to your suppliers and how do you actually manage to maintain continuity?
“The impact (of a cyber incident) is massive. We’ve had a few customers have some significant cyberattacks and we’ve been working for weeks and months to get them up and running.”
The Agtech and Logistics Hub is shining a light on Aliva and the importance of agribusinesses adoptingon cyber security measures for Agtech Month, given the growing adoption of agtech increases the agriculture sector’s risk of cyber attacks.
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