Canada’s food industry is vulnerable to cyberattacks, expert warns

Canada’s Agricultural Foods sector could be at risk of falling victim to future cyberattacks if more measures aren’t taken.

Speaking with CTV’s Your Morning last Thursday, Beauceron Security CEO David Shipley expressed his concern by stating a lack of security measures puts a ‘big target’ on the sector.

“This is not a sector where there are wide margins, and the push to become even more efficient affects everything from the farm to the production and distribution to the grocery store, and this creates opportunities,” Shipley said.

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In 2022, a security breach left Sobeys customers unable to fulfill pharmacy prescriptions, use self-checkout machines, purchase items with gift cards or redeem loyalty points for about a week. Additionally, the cyber security incident may have compromised employee’s personal information.

When cyberattacks happen within the agricultural industry, Shipley said that it’s consumers who often pay the price.

“These companies don’t absorb these costs, these costs are actually part of the inflation story we’re dealing with,” he said. “It’s a big complex issue that’s going to require us to deal with this both federally and provincially, and right now we’re not moving nearly fast enough.”

Shipley said agriculture was not included in Bill C-26 – An Act Respecting Cyber Security. The bill was introduced in June 2022 to establish a regulatory framework to strengthen cybersecurity for national services and systems, such as in finance, telecommunications, energy and transportation.

Shipley adds that not including agriculture as an essential service along with those listed in the bill puts a “big target on that sector.”

“(T)hey missed the boat on C-26, but their strategy, which I keep being told is coming in weeks, so hopefully this fall, the national cybersecurity strategy will also talk about agriculture,” Shipley said.

Why is this happening?

According to Shipley, the cyberattacks are typically “Russian-backed gangs.” He said these groups bring in money from the attacks to their economy, which may be going towards the funding of the war in Ukraine, as “Russia likes to hit back at those who are supporting Ukraine, and [Canada] is on the front lines.”

“This is what war looks like now, and we used to, as Canadians, embrace the safety of our oceans,” he said. “There is no gap on the internet now, and we’re feeling that, and we’re not doing well taking national security seriously as a country and we have to, the time has changed.”

What needs to change?

Shipley said the government needs to be prepared the event of another cyberattack on Canada’s agriculture sector.

“First, we need more investment at the federal government in caring about this,” he said. Shipley added that the industry in the United States has already started conducting exercises to identify solutions in the event of an attack.

In addition, he emphasized the need for farm technology that is able to combat cyberattacks.

Last week, the government announced $22.6 million in funding through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership for 319 farming businesses to invest in new technology and equipment. An example of what the funding can be used for includes an electric, self-propelled sprayer for nursery crops.

“How do we make sure that farmers, who have smart tractors now which are internet connected, how do we make sure that they have the right to repair their devices, (that) those devices are being built resiliently so they can go back to being dumb tractors in the event of a cyberattack?”

Shipley says the systems farmers and disruptors depend on for food production need to be safe by design, with modern and resilient regulations.

“All these systems we depend on are secure and safe by design, for the distributors, what are the regulations and resiliency we expect, and how do we work as a country to deal with that, and at the grocery store, how do we make sure they’re resilient?” he said. “The good news is that we did see with Sobeys is that they got hit hard, but stores stayed open, they were still able to distribute food, let’s make sure that the entire food distribution network is resilient.”