The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s cyber division is warning agricultural cooperatives across the country to be wary of possible cyberattacks. The division wants cooperatives to take all possible precautions to keep their operations safe as ransomware attacks typically happen on ag cooperatives during the critical planting and harvest seasons. CHS Chief Information Security Officer Sarah Engstrom believes her company is in good shape to whether a cyber-attack, but that isn’t true industry wide.

The attackers hope to disrupt operations, cause financial loss, and damage the food supply chain. 2021 saw several attacks on ag cooperatives during the harvest. So far, two ag cooperatives have been hit by cyberattacks this year, one in February, and the other in March.   Enstrom says this is definitely a national food security issue.

Engstrom says there are many agribusinesses that are vulnerable to cyberattacks and need to beef up their security.

Cyberattacks have recently hit 14 of 16 critical infrastructure sectors in the U.S., including food and agriculture, the defense industry, and others.