Texas Weekly Online

Menu
Menu
Facebook Twitter Youtube

Author:

US agriculture primed to be next frontier in cybersecurity in new year, experts, lawmakers say

US agriculture primed to be next frontier in cybersecurity in new year, experts, lawmakers say

Cybersecurity has been a major subject of discussion in recent years, with purported Chinese spy balloons floating overhead, a major Appalachian oil pipeline hacked with ransomware and questions about mysterious drones over New Jersey skies.  But one overlooked area of focus in this regard is agriculture, several prominent figures have said — especially with America’s ag states primed to lend their top political leaders to Washington in the new year. Dakota State University President Jose-Marie Griffiths told Fox News Digital how important the heartland has become geopolitically, with several Dakotans gaining leadership or cabinet roles in the new year — including Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., chairing the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity. “I said quite a lot in the past and in [congressional] testimony about my concerns about agriculture and food production’s critical infrastructure, which came rather late to the cybersecurity critical infrastructure table,” Griffiths said. INFLATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND GLOBALISM ARE POTENTIAL DEATH SENTENCE TO US AG: FARMERS “People [will] start to realize the agricultural vehicles they’re using increasingly are autonomous and connecting to broadband [via] satellite — and other ways that these become vulnerable. And for people who wish to do us harm, they’re exploiting vulnerabilities as much as they can.” Residents across the heartland pay much more attention to the threats China and other rivals pose to the U.S. agriculture sector, she said.  With advancements in technology, hackers can now find their way into harvesters, granaries and the nation’s freight-train network, Griffiths and Rounds said separately. Whether the cash crop is Pennsylvania potatoes, Florida oranges or Dakotan wheat, all are crucial to the U.S. economy and supply chain, and all can be subject to cyberthreats, Griffiths suggested. Rounds told Fox News Digital he has studied for some time the potential vulnerabilities of the American agriculture sector when it comes to foreign actors and cybersecurity. “It’s more than just the vehicles and so forth,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with the infrastructure that we rely on. A good example is your water systems; your electrical systems… All of those right now are connected and they all have cyber-points-of-entry.  “And so, we have been, for an extended period of time, looking at threats that could come from overseas by adversaries that would like to infiltrate not only the water supplies, but also the electrical systems… and in some cases, sewer systems.” Rounds said he and other lawmakers have been focused on where malign actors can proverbially “shoot the arrows at us,” and figure out who they are and how to stop them. GREEN GOVERNANCE IS THE NEW GUISE FOR MERCANTILISM, WILL LEAD TO GLOBAL INSTABILITY: KEVIN ROBERTS He said the Chinese firm Huawei had been selling cheap hardware to rural telecom entities and could be able to infiltrate communications systems. “Once we found out that that was in there… that they could be putting in latent materials that could be activated at a later date, we’ve gotten most of them pulled out. But that’s just one example of the ways in which rural areas can be a way into the rest of our communication systems,” he said. Rounds said drones are becoming increasingly used in agriculture, and they, too, have the danger of being hacked. Vehicles like harvesters and tractors have also greatly advanced technologically in the near term and face similar challenges. “A lot of that right now is done with GPS. You get into your tractor, you plug it in and basically it’ll drive it for you. We leave people in those tractors, but at some stage of the game, some of those might very well become autonomous as well — and they’re subject to cyber-intervention…” he said. Grain elevators also can be interfered with, which stymies marketing and transportation, and endangers the greater supply chain and the ability for a farmer to sell on the open market, Rounds said. Asked if he preferred today’s agriculture sector to the era before automation, Rounds said it’s not about what he thinks, but what is going to happen in the future. “We will have more and more autonomous vehicles being used in farming. And the reason is we don’t have the manpower — and we replace it with machinery. The machinery is going to get bigger. It’s going to become more sophisticated, and we’re going to be expected to do more things with fewer people actually operating them.,” he said. “The supply chain is so critical. We rely on autonomy in many cases for a lot of the delivery of our resources, both to the farmer, but also back out from the farmer in terms of a commodity that he wants to market.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP If that new technologically-advanced system malfunctions or is hacked, it will greatly disrupt the ability to provide the raw materials to the people and companies “actually making the bread” and such. Amit Yoran, CEO of exposure management firm Tenable, recently testified before the House Homeland Security Committee and spoke at length about cyber threats to critical U.S. infrastructure. Asked about cybersecurity in the agriculture realm, Yoran told Fox News Digital recently that there is “no singular defense paradigm that could effectively be applied across all sectors.” “Some critical infrastructure providers have a high degree of cybersecurity preparedness, strong risk understanding and risk management practices, and very strong security programs. Others are woefully ill-prepared,” said Yoran, whose company is based in Howard County, Maryland.

Germans mourn five people killed, 200 injured in Christmas market attack

Germans mourn five people killed, 200 injured in Christmas market attack

A memorial service takes place in the cathedral of Magdeburg, a city shaken by the deadly incident. Germans have gathered in Magdeburg to mourn the victims of a car-ramming attack in the eastern city that killed at least five people and injured 200. Authorities said a doctor drove into the busy outdoor Christmas market on Friday evening, killing four adults and a nine-year-old child, and wounding 41 people badly enough that the death toll could rise. Church bells rang out in the city at 7:04pm (18:04 GMT) on Saturday, the exact time of the attack the evening prior. A memorial service took place in the city’s cathedral, intended mainly for relatives of the victims, as well as emergency responders and invited guests, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Those who were not allowed to attend the service gathered outside the church to watch it on a large screen. Several hundred people also gathered on the city’s central square, some laying flowers and lighting candles. The crowds also included those carrying banners with far-right slogans. Far-right demonstrators take part in a protest after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 20, 2024 [Christian Mang/Reuters] The violence has shocked the German city of about 240,000 people 130km (80 miles) west of Berlin. Advertisement It led several other places in Germany to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its many markets open but increased its police presence at them. Probe into motive continues The suspect is a 50-year-old immigrant from Saudi Arabia who described himself as an Islam-critical activist and who surrendered to police at the scene. The suspect is being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said at a news conference. Investigators are looking into whether the attack could have been motivated by the doctor’s dissatisfaction with the way Germany treats Saudi refugees, Nopens said. Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, but several German news outlets identified him as Taleb A and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Posts on the suspect’s X account, verified by the Reuters news agency, suggested he supported anti-Islam and far-right parties, including Alternative for Germany. A Saudi source told the agency that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the suspect after he posted “extremist” views on his X account that threatened peace and security. A risk assessment conducted last year by German state and federal criminal investigators came to the conclusion that the man posed “no specific danger”, the Welt newspaper reported, quoting security sources. Closed stalls stand at the site where a car drove into a crowd at a Magdeburg Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany [Christian Mang/Reuters] Germany has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August. Advertisement Friday’s attack also came eight years after a man drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy. Adblock test (Why?)