Can farms get hacked? Cyberattacks put nation's food security in firing line

A wireless thermometer in a paddock, a GPS-guided tractor or an automated irrigation system can make a farm more efficient, but each connection to the internet also creates another potential way in for cyber criminals.

or signup to

As Australian agriculture becomes more dependent on connected equipment, sensors and third-party software, industry figures warn that many farm businesses do not realise how exposed they may be.

The risk also extends beyond individual farms with an attack on a supplier, processor or transport operator disrupting the movement of produce and leaving growers unable to get inputs onto their properties or products to market.

The warning comes after a cyber attack last week spoiled food in hundreds of French supermarkets following the remote manipulation of refrigeration systems where hackers exploited unpatched firmware and direct web exposure.

It has renewed questions the security of Australia's increasingly connected agricultural supply chain, as the federal government develops a national food security strategy to protect a $100 billion industry.

Australian agriculture has already been affected by cyber incidents.

A 2021 hack of global meat processor JBS temporarily shut facilities in Australia, the United States and Canada, while a 2020 attack on Talman Software disrupted wool auctions and exports used across much of the Australian and New Zealand wool industry.

In June this year, Mackay Sugar reported a cyber security incident claimed by Russian ransomware group The Gentlemen.

It crippled the company's supply, harvesting and milling operations for more than two weeks, forcing limited manual crushing.

Ashwin Pal, a cyber security partner at RSM Australia with 30 years' industry experience, said one in 10 businesses across the food supply chain that experienced a cyber incident or hack would not report it.

He also said most supply chain participants did not think they were a target, lacked the knowledge to secure the technology they used and, in many cases, did not even know they were using it.

The Australian Signals Directorate said artificial intelligence (AI) had increased the speed and scale of the danger, but many incidents still exploited known weaknesses.

"Cyber threats continue to target Australian businesses of all sizes, and organisations in the agricultural sector are not immune from malicious cyber activity," a spokesperson said.

Its advice includes multi-factor authentication or passkeys, timely software updates, tested backups, staff awareness and independent verification of payment changes.

Modern farms increasingly rely on digital technology to guide decisions and operations, including GPS-guided tractors, precision spraying, automated irrigation, remote sensors, livestock monitoring and farm-management software.

Those tools can improve efficiency, but they also increase dependence on third-party networks, accounts and services - and each step creates another potential entry point for attackers.

Mr Pal said the agriculture sector was fertile ground for bad actors.

"The sector runs through tens of thousands of small, often family-owned operations with no dedicated IT staff, limited budgets, and heavy reliance on consumer-grade technology and third-party platforms," he said.

"In a supply chain context, that creates a practical exposure where a sophisticated actor can target the weakest participant and still cause disruption at scale.

"A compromised small logistics provider is a door into the larger operators' IT services. A compromised ag-tech platform used by hundreds of farms is a door into all of them at once.

"The attack surface across Australian food and agriculture is enormous, dispersed and largely unmonitored."

A cyber incident also looks different to impacted farmers.

One might lose access to records, or be unable to use a software platform, have information altered, or find a supplier's systems unavailable when needed.

Another might experience interruption to irrigation during a critical period, the loss of machinery guidance or the failure of harvesting software.

In livestock, processing and storage, disruption to monitoring or supporting systems could affect animal management, product quality and handling.

The growing use of AI in farm management is introducing further vulnerabilities, particularly when software can act across multiple systems.

An AI agent given authority to read crop and weather data, adjust irrigation, order inputs and approve small invoices could cause damage if compromised.

During a heatwave, for example, it could alter watering schedules, place unnecessary orders when prices were high, or redirect payments while its actions appeared legitimate.

CSIRO researcher Dr Chandra Thapa has also warned that agricultural data could reveal commercially sensitive information when records were combined over time.

Yield, water use, animal health and delivery records, machinery settings and business correspondence could together expose production costs, likely harvest volumes or periods of financial pressure, potentially weakening a grower's negotiating position.

Dr Thapa advised businesses to start with AI systems in read-only or advisory mode, restrict access to essential functions and require human approval for consequential actions.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute told a parliamentary inquiry last week that the nation's growing data centre build-out could expose farming logistics to sophisticated, autonomous cyber threats.

The follow Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month revealing that a rogue OpenAI agent had autonomously "hacked" into the Services Australia website.

The company said post-incident analysis revealed the agents utilised third-party workarounds - like routing traffic through proxy networks, using external hosting services and guessing internal file names - to climb past the site's digital defences.

Janet Egan, a former staffer in the Prime Minister's office who now works as an AI researcher in the US, told a parliamentary inquiry into AI this week that Australia needed to increase government capacity to manage issues leaving infrastructure vulnerable.

"I don't think Australia's AI Safety Institute is currently resourced enough ($7.5 million per year) to be taken seriously on the international stage," she said.

Resilience beyond the farm gate

The warnings come as the government develops the nation's first National Food Security Strategy - Feeding Australia - due for release in mid-2027.

The National Food Council, established in November 2025 to advise on the strategy, has already considered national security and supply-chain resilience, including the effects of geopolitical conflict on fuel, fertiliser and freight.

Mr Pal argues cyber security should be explicitly incorporated into the national food security strategy.

The Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre issued guidance in 2023 on risk assessment for the food and grocery sector, recognising the sector's dependence on interconnected systems and the potential for an outage at one asset to affect other businesses.

It recommended an "all-hazards" approach to risk, preparedness and planning.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins told ACM that the government recognised the importance of supply-chain resilience through the strategy.

"Australia has strong frameworks in place supporting industries, including across the food supply chain, to strengthen and protect their cyber security resilience," she said.

Ms Collins pointed to $60 million in funding under the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy, helping businesses across the food supply chain upgrade systems, access free training and cyber health checks and implement practices to prevent and protect against digital threats.

National rural affairs writer covering federal politics, agri-politics and life in the regions. Winner of several Clarion Awards, including best news report, the 2025 Australian Council of Agriculture Journalists Star Prize and two National Rural Press Club awards. Send story tips to [email protected]

National rural affairs writer covering federal politics, agri-politics and life in the regions. Winner of several Clarion Awards, including best news report, the 2025 Australian Council of Agriculture Journalists Star Prize and two National Rural Press Club awards. Send story tips to [email protected]

More from Agribusiness

Can farms get hacked? Cyberattacks put nation's food security in firing line

What Labor's crackdown on discretionary trusts means for family farms

Hard-wired: historic fencing brand is agriculture's new 'most trusted' name

Contentious trust tax bill tabled as farmers, small business face major changes

How big names in egg 'cartel' allegedly restricted supplies and blocked rivals

Record yields, biggest canola harvest on record: Australia's 63m tonne crop