Forget about Colonial Pipeline and JBS. A coordinated cyber attack on U.S. agriculture could, in short order, lead to foot shortages and hunger in the U.S. and abroad. And history has shown us that when food gets scarce, things get ugly – fast. How likely is such an attack? More likely than you might think, says Rob Wood of NCC Group, our guest on this week’s podcast.
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.
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.
In-brief: is regulation the right approach to securing The Internet of Things or can industry clean up its own act? IEEE Spectrum takes a look.
