Australia’s meals provide is uniquely inclined to cyber attacks, the director of a national cybersecurity firm warns, as he calls for the industry to raise its standards on the anniversary of the JBS ransomware hack.
Key points:
- The pinnacle of a national cybersecurity firm warns Australia’s meals provide is uniquely inclined to hacking and pandemic-scale shutdowns
- The meals industry was once added to the Commonwealth list of vital industries after a successful attack on Australia’s biggest meat company
- The Five Eyes security alliance says Russian-backed hackers are concentrated on international locations serving to Ukraine
JBS Meals, the sector’s biggest meat processor, was once held ransom by Russian-based fully hackers for $US11 million final year.
The cyber attack shut down the corporate’s international operations for five days, together with a pair of Australian abattoirs.
Claroty Australian regional director Lani Refiti stated Australia’s entire meals and drink provide chain was once “uniquely inclined” to additional attacks.
“It is occurring,” Mr Refiti stated.
“It is never a matter of ‘if’ a important attack will happen to the Australian meals and beverage sector, or no longer it is some distance a matter of ‘when’.”
He stated there would be meals shortages if there was once one other incident like JBS.
Prison tips had been handed months after the JBS hack to list meals and beverage as a vital national industry.
They precipitated the introduction of vital cyber incident reporting and enhanced cyber security responsibilities for sources of national significance.
However Mr Refiti stated main supermarkets, meals distributors and processors had been quiet some distance less sincere than varied industries.
“As soon as you explore at vital infrastructure like monetary companies and products, energy, water — meals and beverage is on the bottom of the list,” he stated.
Russian-backed hacking possibility
The Australian Cyber Security Centre stated cybercrime rose 13 per cent final monetary year with self-reported losses totalling $33 billion.
A pair of quarter of the 67,500 cyber crime reports the agency bought final year had been linked with Australia’s vital infrastructure.
“Critical concentrated on, every domestically and globally, of important companies and products such because the healthcare, meals distribution and vitality sectors has underscored the vulnerability of vital infrastructure to important disruption in important companies and products, misplaced earnings and the ability of harm or lack of existence,” the centre’s 2021 instruct reads.
Mr Refiti stated the spike in cybercrime had accelerated since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He stated there had been lots extra coordination between countries and cyber prison teams in the previous three to 5 years.
“Threat intel has been telling us that these teams are supported or given a safehaven by the Russian authorities.”
The centre joined with US, UK, Canadian and New Zealand cybersecurity authorities final month to device back a public warning that Russian impart-subsidized hackers had been concentrated on the vital infrastructure of “international locations and organisations providing materiel enhance to Ukraine”.
Animals, meals in possibility
The vulnerability of Australia’s meals provide was once made abundantly obvious sooner or later of the pandemic as shortages of some merchandise precipitated dismay-procuring of many others.
Curtin University senior provide chain and logistics lecturer Elizabeth Jackson stated a cyber attack may per chance perchance perchance presumably lift extra complications than empty supermarket cupboards.
A Woolworths spokesperson declined to be interviewed, easiest saying “cyber security is a important fragment of our possibility management framework and we welcome the fresh legislation which is ready to relieve manufacture a constant standard for cyber security protocol at some stage in the broader provide chain”.
JBS Meals has no longer responded to requests for commentary.
The JBS attack was once one amongst a pair of successful hacks concentrated on Australia’s meals provide.
Lion, one amongst Australia’s perfect milk and beer processors in the relieve of brands like XXXX, Tooheys, Pura and Masters milk, was once hacked and stopped production in 2020.
Toll Team of workers, one amongst Australia’s perfect meals distributors, was once hacked and shut down twice in 2020.
“One thing three weeks plus would motive extreme [food] shortages,” Mr Refiti stated.
“These companies are absolute targets,” Dr Jackson stated.
Know-how is in the marketplace
The Australian Cyber Security Centre listed a diffusion of forms of attacks in its warning to vital industries “together with adverse malware, ransomware, DDoS attacks and cyber espionage”.
Mr Refiti stated malware attacks had been a frequent approach for hackers to extort ransoms and shut down entire companies.
“All it takes is one or two of us in an organisation to birth an infected file and then it spreads like wildfire in an infected organisation.”
Then again, he stated there had been suggestions to give a increase to security.
“The controls to fight ransomware occupy been accessible for 10 years,” he stated.
“It is never a arduous thing to attain from a job or technology perspective.”
He stated the monetary sector had tightened its security.
“It took reasonably a diffusion of theft of credit score playing cards and inner most files for the regulators to behave and for the authorities to birth to defend these organisations to legend,” he stated.
“I reflect the identical thing will happen in the meals and beverage sector.”