Keep Your Eyes Peeled: Farmers and Ranchers are key Targets for Cybercriminals This Fall

Fall is prime time for cybersecurity breaches in family operations and agribusinesses. Between weaning prep, harvest, cattle sales and daily fires; it’s easy for security practices to slip through the cracks.  

 “Ag is one of the top ten industries being targeted by cybercrime,” shares Chris Sherman, CEO of TechSupport.farm.  

Chris’s goal at TechSupport.farm is to protect America’s farms and agribusinesses from cyberattacks. Based out of West Fargo, ND, this mission is near and dear to his entire team.  

Fall security breaches to be cognizant of included RFID swapping, bank fraud and Ponzi schemes. 

RFID technology is an immensely valuable tool to ranchers and tags are more often than not tamper-proof. However, high cattle prices increase the risk of tag swapping between animals of different values.  

Sherman says, “We do know there have been instances where RFID tags have been swapped between animals.” 

This type of fraud can easily be prevented by pairing this technology with forms of permanent ID like tattoos, brands, genomic tests and again tamper-proof tags from the beginning. Keep in mind, individual animal data is not stored within the tag itself but instead in the herd record keeping software. Who this information is or isn’t shared with also plays a role in data security and fraud. 

Bank fraud is the next security breach to be cognizant of and is often the most impactful to family operations.  

“This is the time of year when there's a lot of transactions that are happening,” says Chris. “We're working late nights and early mornings and we're not necessarily paying attention to what is coming and going.” 

Prevent potential bank fraud from occurring by noting what the senders email address is and if they are a saved contact. Additionally, be wary of transaction requests that have a sense of urgency to them. 

Sherman says, “If there's a sense of urgency or a sense of get this done or else, I would pick up the phone and call that vendor to verify.” 

Creating an invoice folder for recurring vendors in your email system is another tip offered by Sherman. If an email comes and doesn’t land in that folder, that’s a red flag which signals the need for more verification.  

In the instance money is accidently transferred to the wrong person, call the bank immediately. 

He says, “If there's a significant amount of money that went out. There is a program called IC3, which is from the FBI and it's a reporting mechanism that you can report cybercrimes.” 

Ponzi schemes might not fall directly into cybersecurity, but they are still a security issue to be aware of.  

“The old saying, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. I think that that holds true,” says Sherman. 

Due your due diligence to learn who you are doing business with by checking public records and leaning on the reputation this person has with other ranchers. 

Sherman says, “That extra five or ten minutes to verify that you know who you're doing business with is invaluable.” 

Outside of these specific examples basic security practices like multi-factor authentication, using paid email accounts and strong passwords are easy and effective starting points for all farmers, ranchers and business owners.  

Sherman says, “The fact of the is that as a as an industry, we need to be more mindful of our security and making sure we lock things up, so to speak, on the digital front.” 

Listen to the full conversation on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.