Grispos: Awareness Needed for Cyber Threats Facing Agriculture

Nebraska farmers and ranchers are working to raise awareness on cyber-attacks that may affect their farming operations. Many farmers use technology to track what is happening on their farm; therefore, any cyber-attack can cause a chain reaction of events to occur.

Technology is not something that has always been taught with farming; however, George Grispos, Ph.D., assistant professor of cybersecurity at UNO, says that with the ag industry moving more towards technology, farmers young and old need to be aware of how cyber-attacks can affect the farms. He mentioned that, by 2050, technology used on a single farm will produce 4.1 million data points per day, which could be misused in the wrong hands.

“I think it's ripe for opportunity. It’s a community, industry where cybersecurity has never been a concern. Technology is going into the hands of farmers, and it's never been part of the education program,” Grispos said.

Read the full article on KFXL's website. The story was republished locally by KPTM. As a cybersecurity researcher focused on the ag industry, Grispos also had a similar interview in November with Nebraska Public Media.