Ag retail underspends on cybersecurity

Ag retail underspends on cybersecurity

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Yesterday we reported on how vulnerable the agriculture industry is to cyber attacks. Ever Ag’s Mike Moore says one of the reasons for this is that the industry underspends on technology and tech security, especially at the ag retail level.

Moore… “Ag is definitely behind on the spend side of the fence. And if we look at, you know, corporate America, we'll call it, and it's gonna be industry dependent. So if, if we're looking at, you know, FinTech, they may spend more than other industries, but I would say, you know, generally you're gonna see in that 2% to 5% of gross revenues would be a pretty typical spend in corporate America. Conversely, on the ag retail front, we're about 0.6. So 0.6, less than a percent of gross revenues are allocated towards IT budgets. So you can see that grossly underspending, it's like, uh, leaving your house unlocked. You go out on vacation and you don't lock your doors. A matter of fact, you can leave your windows open. Let's make it as easy as possible. Hey, and by the way, here's the code to my safe to get to the things that you want in my house. You know, that underspending is equivalent to that.”

Moore says that threat actors prey on the vulnerable to steal data and collect ransoms from unsuspecting businesses.

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