MADISON, SD — With precision agriculture technology becoming more advanced, how can farmers keep their equipment and records safe from cybersecurity breaches?
Students and researchers at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, can climb into the tractor seat and conduct research on farm equipment cybersecurity in their on-campus tractor cybersecurity lab.
“The security aspect is just trying to ensure that all of our devices, whether they’re smart tractors or any type of smart tablet or whatever farmers are using, are secure and don’t leak any information that they should. It won’t be,” said Austin O’Brien, associate professor of computer science and coordinator of the Master of Science in Computer Science at Dakota State University.
Austin O’Brien, associate professor of computer science and Master of Computer Science coordinator at Dakota State University.
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They are also analyzing the impacts of artificial intelligence.
“We are working on different projects on how to use AI in various aspects, whether it is collecting data so that farmers can make better decisions, ranchers the same, or maybe they can also have higher yields, things of that nature and then driving autonomous”. tractors, things like that,” O’Brien said.
The goal of this investigation is to ensure that our agricultural equipment is safe. They have joined forces with several industry partners, including AI Sweden, South Dakota State University and Case IH New Holland.
“We want to make sure that really nefarious actors, you know, hackers or attackers or whoever, can’t collect information from these devices,” O’Brien explained. “Also, so they don’t come in and then take control of any of these or even put misinformation into them.”
Case New Holland is one of the partners of Dakota State University’s cybersecurity program.
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The research setup is unique and makes students and researchers feel like they are really on the farm.
“We have kind of a setup, I would say almost a little bit more to have fun. We have the driver’s seat and everything, so there’s a simulator attached that’s like driving a tractor,” O’Brien said.
But the lab is for more than just fun.
“Maybe the most important part is what we don’t show,” O’Brien explained. “We’re working with CNH and they have proprietary hardware, so we’re not really allowed to show the actual hardware, but it’s more of a smaller device that we have within our labs, so we have a good idea of what kind.” type of hardware we’re working with, where the inputs and outputs are, and what kind of power it has.”
Those involved in the project are excited to work on something that can impact South Dakota’s largest industry: agriculture.
“The students really like the idea that we’ve been able to research and work on something that actually has a real impact on the economy of South Dakota,” O’Brien said.
American farmers and ranchers have quickly adopted technologies into their operations. The 2022 US Agricultural Census said the percentage of farms with internet access continues to grow and is now around 79%. The 2022 Agricultural Census was the first to include the adoption of precision agriculture as a feature of farms, estimating that less than 12% of farms used these technologies. However, among the highest-income farms (those selling more than $1 million in agricultural products) the use of precision agriculture technology was approximately 39%.
Adoption has been faster in row crops. A February 2023 USDA study, “Precision Agriculture in the Digital Age: Recent Adoption on U.S. Farms,” said farmers were using automatic steering and guidance systems on more than 50% of the acreage. of the US planted with corn, soybeans, winter wheat, cotton. rice and sorghum. That figure is up from the 10% estimated in the early 2000s.
The use of precision agriculture technologies in row crops offers the possibility of reducing inputs and environmental footprint through more precise placement of seeds and fertilizers and more precise field coverage with less overlap thanks to guidance systems. Performance monitors can provide valuable information about field performance and resource allocation. Remote sensing and autonomous equipment could offer valuable information or efficiency without increasing labor.
Factors preventing farmers from adopting technologies include cost and technical knowledge. But another risk factor for many is whether the data and connection to the farm can be protected.
While agriculture and food companies have faced disruptive and dangerous technological attacks, cybersecurity breaches on agricultural equipment have not yet occurred in the United States.
“We haven’t seen anything of that nature happen, but we always want to be one step ahead,” O’Brien said. “We know that with the Ukraine conflict that’s going on, we’ve seen Russia basically do different types of attacks on different infrastructure, so we want to make sure that our infrastructure is one step ahead of that.”
Mark Spanier, associate professor and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Dakota State University.
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Cybersecurity professionals can determine the peak times when attackers can attack farm equipment.
“Which is different from some areas of cybersecurity,” said Mark Spanier, associate professor and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Dakota State University. “In agriculture, you know that someone wants to attack right at harvest time, because they can put all their efforts into that short period of time. “If they can be disruptive during that period of time, they can create all kinds of havoc.”
But having more specific attack times can also be a challenge.
“So it’s an interesting balance between ‘I know when someone is likely to attack, so I can put all my efforts,’ but it also means that the attacker can also put all his efforts on that very specific point. so it creates an interesting dynamic,” Spanier said.
And there are ways farmers can now be proactive in protecting their equipment technology.
“The onboard computer systems that you’re going to have on your equipment, making sure they’re up to date and up to the current specifications of things, like with anything you want to make sure things are up to date, so if there’s been a problem known vulnerability that has emerged, which is then updated with the patches it needs to have,” Spanier said.
There are ways farmers right now can be proactive in protecting their equipment technology.
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“Just be aware of what you’re doing, where you’re leaving your data, where your data exists, so if you’re uploading data to the Internet, make sure you know exactly where you’re uploading it,” O’Brien said. Maybe it’s certain websites if you work with different companies or businesses. Just keep in mind that you are working directly with them and maybe not through other services.”
But, in general, this research should serve as a prevention tool.
“That kind of concern, while it’s there, just know that we’re actively working on things, so we don’t want to present it as a doom and gloom situation, we want to be one step ahead,” O’Brien said. . “We haven’t seen any major problems, but that’s because people are actively working to stay ahead.”
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