A futuristic bin yard at dusk with autonomous tractors moving around and lighted symbols overlaying the image symbolizing the digital interconnectedness of all elements of the image.

Older farm technology may risk hacker attack

Out-of-date internet-connected systems can be a cybersecurity vulnerability on many Prairie farms, allowing hackers in

A farm’s older internet-connected control systems — in one recent case, grain dryers — can let hackers in to wreak havoc.




Today’s machines rely heavily on software for electronic controls, digital data transfer and guidance. How much access should owners get to a machine CPU to tinker with those systems?

Is the right to repair farm equipment a cybersecurity problem?

Farm equipment brands should be proactive about allowing controlled CPU access, security expert says

With rising cybersecurity threats, farm machinery brands have to protect their systems, but farmers want more access to the cab computer and argue for the right to repair their own equipment.



Photo: PUGUN SJ

Some farm dealerships back online after cyber attack

Dealers forced to turn to pen and paper after attack knocked out inventory software

Brian Osterndorff, chair of the board of the Canadian Equipment Dealers Association, and president and CEO of Robert’s Farm Equipment, a seven-store group in Ontario, said on June 26 that they had just been informed that they could use the system again.


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Cyber attack frustrates farm equipment dealers

Dealers forced to use manual processes after software provider hacked

CDK provides business management software to dealers of all makes of farm equipment, so major dealers of John Deere, CNH and are working without digital systems across the country. CDK is also the leading provider of management software to automobile dealers and thousands of those dealerships are offline.

Greater cyber vulnerability is part of the price we pay for technological sophistication.

Editorial: Do you know your cybersecurity risk?

Farms and agricultural businesses are in danger, and most don’t know the extent of their problem. As reporter Janelle Rudolph notes in our front-page story in the May 30 issue of the Co-operator, Canadian producers, agribusinesses and farm groups have all felt the sting of a cyberattack within the past few years. Technology and digital


More data on the farm also means more digital vulnerabilities.

How to manage a cyberattack

Saskatchewan cybersecurity expert Brennan Schmidt and Ali Dehghantanha of the University of Guelph offered the following tips to prevent a cybersecurity breach, handle an attack and mop up the fallout. To prevent a breach: Take a comprehensive inventory of all technology and identify the most important and potentially vulnerable pieces. Use unique, solid passwords, enable

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Activists target Ontario hog farm with ransomware

'We are dealing with adversaries whose motivation is not money'

A ransomware on a small Ontario hog business is something a cybersecurity expert says needs more attention from the agriculture industry. Instead of cash, the attackers demanded the hog business owners publicly admit to what they alleged to be livestock mistreatment. The occurrence was unique and alarming, says Ali Dehghantanha, Canada research chair in cybersecurity