Software vulnerabilities in web sites operated by John Deere could allow a remote attacker to harvest information on the company’s customers including their names, physical addresses and the equipment they own. The revelation suggests the U.S. agriculture sector is woefully unprepared for disruptive cyber attacks, experts warn.
Willie Cade’s grandfather, Theo, an engineer at John Deere, helped invent the manure spreader. His grandson thinks John Deere’s efforts to kill right to repair legislation is what stinks.
In-brief: Hobbled by draconian copyright restrictions from manufacturers like John Deere that make it impossible to modify or repair equipment, farmers in the U.S. have turned to unofficial software produced in countries like Ukraine to maintain their equipment.
In-brief: Proposed legislation to prevent manufacturers from denying owners and independent repair people to fix and maintain software-based products is being sidelined by opposition from private firms like equipment maker John Deere, Motherboard reports.
