Main threats for the agri-food sector and how to protect against them

More than a hundred companies from the Andalusian agri-food sector took part in the Cybersecurity Forum organized by the Andalusian Council of Chambers of Commerce and the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development. The aim of this gathering was to improve the mechanisms and measures in place to secure digitally managed data and systems.

The forum participants discussed the main threats posed by digital transformation and what to do to combat them, as well as the challenges that this leading sector of the Andalusian economy will have to face in the near future.

During his presentation, Javier Hidalgo, solutions architect and cybersecurity expert in GMV’s Industrial Sector, described the main cyberthreats and gave examples of the different types of cyberattacks to which the supply chain is susceptible. He also commented on the principles of cybersecurity and good practices to be observed in the agri-food sector.

Offering plenty of insights and recommendations, he highlighted the importance of designing security strategies on the premise that every company will suffer an intrusion sooner or later. He also stressed that vulnerabilities come not only from technology and external attacks, but also from human errors that need to be corrected and prevented. According to the expert, the necessary controls and appropriate processes must also be put in place to monitor who and what enters and exits the company’s premises, for instance personnel who do not report for duty or information that is exchanged with a third party.

By way of conclusion, Hidalgo pointed out that in order to integrate cybersecurity we must understand the security risk posed by the supply chain, establish controls and requirements to meet security responsibilities, perform security validation activities in the supply chain management cycle to check the state of security, and continuously improve security by embracing cybersecurity by design, building relationships of trust with suppliers, and realizing that supply chain cybersecurity must be a shared responsibility.