Charles Sturt University has launched a new website to help educate farmers about the risk of cyber threats and attacks. Photo: Charles Sturt University.
An initiative co-led by experts at Charles Sturt University aims to provide farmers with the awareness and skills to minimise or prevent cyber intrusions or attacks on their farm business, including their digital farming operations.
The project team, which includes researchers from four Australian universities ─ Charles Sturt University (CSU), Adelaide University, Queensland University of Technology and Edith Cowan University ─ has developed the Farmers’ Guide to Cybersecurity, which consists of evidence-based resources and training materials.
Initiative coordinator Professor of Economics Mark Morrison in the CSU School of Business said that as the adoption of technologically advanced and sustainable agriculture in Australia gathered pace, so too did the risks from malign cyber forces.
“Cyber risks are not just experienced by farm businesses using advanced digital technologies in their farming practices; any farm business that uses the internet faces cyber risks and needs to take these risks seriously, even if the internet is only used for routine office activities,” Professor Morrison said.
“This project is a timely contribution to increasing awareness and understanding of cyber threats, and provides the knowledge needed for the adoption of improved cyber protections, especially within the Australian agricultural sector.
“One key aim for this project was to find a way to show that cyber threats are real and to translate technical cybersecurity solutions into something farmers can easily learn about, understand and include in their normal business activities.”
With the completion of the underpinning research and the development of digital tools, the project team has recently written to Australian farming organisations to seek their assistance to make their members aware of these free resources.
“The project partners hope that the resources contained on our new purpose-built website, designed for Australian producers, Farmers’ Guide to Cybersecurity, will be helpful to their members and their organisation,” Professor Morrison said.
“We want them to know about free web-based resources that we have developed to help Australian producers develop their awareness and understanding of cybersecurity and address cybersecurity-related issues.”
The project team provided farming producer organisations with a flyer to share with members, with details on how to access the website.
Along with other resources, there is also a digital version of the flyer to download on the website, to print out, post on social media or share in newsletters.
CSU cyber expert and senior lecturer in computing Dr Arash Mahboubi inspired the research project when he posed the question to colleagues, ‘Just imagine, what would our country be like if we didn’t have farmers?’.
“We know that many farmers have adopted a range of networked agri-tech products as part of their business,” Dr Mahboubi said.
“We also know that all networked technology systems can be vulnerable to cyberattacks and result in cybersecurity failure, which could be really expensive and damaging for farmers.
“Moreover, if a cyberattack happens to farmers, suppliers, service providers, and consumers may all be impacted.
“These thoughts all lead to the driving challenge for our research team: can we increase farmers’ awareness of cyber issues, persuade them that they are vulnerable to cyber threats like any business, and help them to adopt solutions that will keep their business cyber safe?”
Professor Morrison noted that for those interested to learn more about cybersecurity and agriculture, CSU is a leading provider of practical and flexible higher education through courses such as agriculture and computing.
The project was funded by the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), which is primarily funded by the Australian Government, and various CRC partners include six Australian universities, the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Australian Signals Directorate, Australian Federal Police, CSIRO, NSW Government, Western Australian Government and various other organisations who are concerned with supporting safe cybersecurity practices.
This project is one work package within a larger program of research, SCATES: Securing Critical Agriculture Technology and Emerging Solutions, which is focused on supporting increased cybersecurity in the Australian agricultural sector and coordinated by CSU’s Professor Rafiqul Islam.
