Recent Ransomware Attacks Target Agriculture
Two major cooperatives have been victims of ransomware attacks in the past week, one in Iowa, and one in Minnesota. Black Matter has taken responsibility for the attacks and is made up of Russian-speaking attackers who code in Russian. The group's blog says it does not conduct attacks on organizations in industries that include healthcare, critical infrastructure, oil and gas, defense, nonprofits, and government, Recorded Future reports.
The food and agriculture sector struggles with the fact that both modern and decades-old technology exists in each individual operation, and even more so in the larger supply chain. Budgets, technical projects, cybersecurity, and business risk mitigation efforts are all affected.
According to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, ransomware is commonly delivered through phishing emails or via “drive-by downloads.” Phishing emails often appear as though they have been sent from a legitimate organization or someone known to the victim and entice the user to click on a malicious link or open a malicious attachment. A “drive-by download” is a program that is automatically downloaded from the internet without the user’s consent or often without their knowledge. It is possible the malicious code may run after download, without user interaction. After the malicious code has been run, the computer becomes infected with ransomware. Not all breaches are preventable, but there are steps companies can take to make them a less accessible target to the hackers. It is also very helpful for all employees to know how to recognize and avoid phishing scams.
The food and agriculture sector struggles with the fact that both modern and decades-old technology exists in each individual operation, and even more so in the larger supply chain. Budgets, technical projects, cybersecurity, and business risk mitigation efforts are all affected.
According to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, ransomware is commonly delivered through phishing emails or via “drive-by downloads.” Phishing emails often appear as though they have been sent from a legitimate organization or someone known to the victim and entice the user to click on a malicious link or open a malicious attachment. A “drive-by download” is a program that is automatically downloaded from the internet without the user’s consent or often without their knowledge. It is possible the malicious code may run after download, without user interaction. After the malicious code has been run, the computer becomes infected with ransomware. Not all breaches are preventable, but there are steps companies can take to make them a less accessible target to the hackers. It is also very helpful for all employees to know how to recognize and avoid phishing scams.