Cybersecurity in Canadian Agriculture: Promoting Awareness, Education, and Accessible Solutions

By Tabitha Caswell for Bioenterprise

Agri-tech and farming businesses in Canada are increasingly adopting digital technologies. This digital transformation brings beneficial improvements like efficiency and productivity. However, it also brings new cybersecurity challenges. 

Currently, the Canadian agri-food sector is vulnerable to cyber threats due to the rapid pace of technology adoption and a lack of robust security measures. Talk of cybersecurity threats is commonplace now, but despite growing awareness, many agricultural businesses have yet to implement comprehensive cybersecurity strategies. This leaves critical systems and data at risk, highlighting the urgent need for better protection measures.

Sushant Katare is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Senior Cybersecurity Manager with the Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation at Durham College (DC), a Knowledge and Development Partner of Bioenterprise. 

Sushant is a seasoned consultant and mentor with more than a decade of experience in the world of cybersecurity. As an entrepreneur, he built innovative cybersecurity solutions and grew business operations in multiple industries. He brings his niche expertise to the conversation to shed light on the risks and challenges Canadian ag-tech entrepreneurs, startups, and businesses face. Further, he offers resources and a simplified explanation of solutions to implement.

Importance of Cybersecurity in Agriculture

Cybersecurity refers to the practice of securing hardware, software, and data from unauthorized access by criminals. This includes anything connected to the internet like computer systems, devices, networks, and stored data. In agriculture, cybersecurity is necessary to safeguard technologies used to manage crops, livestock, and supply chains. 

Cyberattacks can be targeted or random. In the war between Russia and Ukraine, Sushant describes a targeted attack, saying, “Russia is not only attacking Ukraine on the border front, but it’s become a cyber war, and Ukrainian farmers are a target. If a country attacks another country’s agriculture industry, then the whole food supply chain can be affected. This can be linked to inflation and the country’s wider economy.”

Canadians might feel safe because our country is not at war. We don’t have enemies and many small producers and startups aren’t on the radar of cyber criminals. But it’s not that simple. Sushant explains, “For Canadian agri-tech companies and modern farms, attacks are not targeted. They will likely originate from a database of millions of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses an attacker has automated to look for vulnerabilities. And your IP address might be on that list.”

The Internet of Things (IoT) plays a crucial role here, connecting devices and systems to collect and share data. Examples of IoT devices are sensors to monitor soil conditions and livestock health, drones to collect data and automated irrigation systems. 

Sushant says, “The more unmonitored IoT devices you have in your infrastructure, the larger the attack surface you leave exposed to various different types of attacks.”