BUSINESS CYBER SECURITY
Cybercrime is targeting dairy farmers and holding their technology systems to ransom. How do you protect yourself?
Don’t get held up by hackers Words by: Anne Hardie
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t can be as simple as clicking on a suspicious email and before you know it, a hacker has access to your farm computer system and can shut you out for a ransom. FMG manager advice services Stephen Cantwell says the better technology gets, the more dependent we become on it and the greater the impact when hackers attack. That was highlighted by the recent ransomware attacks on the Waikato District Health Board and Australia’s largest
meatworks, JBS, with the latter paying out more than $14 million to its attacker. At the farm level, farmers have found themselves unable to milk the cows after hackers shut them out of their own system. It happens and Cantwell says there are probably more successful cyber attacks than just the reported cases because those who get hacked or scammed are often too embarrassed to admit it. They shouldn’t be, he says, because it can happen to anyone, especially as hackers become increasingly sophisticated. Nearly 8000 reports of cyber security
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2021
incidents were reported in New Zealand during 2020 – up 65% on the previous year – and $16.9 million was lost to attackers. “It’s so easy when you get so many emails to click on something before even realising what it is.” Many rural businesses have computer systems that are used for personal use as well and he says that increases the number of emails and type of emails for hackers to target. Phishing emails and credential harvesting which is getting username and password combinations made up 46% 31
