Security News > 2020 > May > Cybersecurity Threats to the Food Supply Chain

"Technology adoption has skyrocketed in virtually every segment of our agriculture sector including food production, processing, and distribution," comments Parham Eftekhari, founder and chairman of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, "And experts predict this trend to continue with robotics and self-driving freight carriers paving the way for an autonomous future. This creates significant opportunity for disruption to our supply chain and food safety concerns."

He continued, "Today, we are already hearing stories of processing plants shutting down and the potential of food shortages. What if manufacturing and storage facilities of perishable food products have their cooling systems hacked during a time of a national food shortage? It would only take a handful of high-profile attacks to create panic among citizens that could lead to a rush on grocery stores and threaten an already fragile food supply."

"What if manufacturing and storage facilities of perishable food products have their cooling systems hacked during a time of a national food shortage? It would only take a handful of high-profile attacks to create panic among citizens that could lead to a rush on grocery stores and threaten an already fragile food supply."

Experts expect the recent trend of the food industry adopting new technology to continue, warns Eftekhari, "With robotics and self-driving freight carriers paving the way for an autonomous future. This creates significant opportunity for disruption to our supply chain and food safety concerns."

"If an attacker wants to provide some type of disruption to the food supply, one area could be transportation; a second is in food processing; but a third would be in food safety," says Sheehy.

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