#DEFCON: Exploiting Vulnerabilities in the Global Food Supply Chain

Autonomous farming equipment that can be controlled remotely now helps to feed humanity. But what if that farming equipment were hacked?

On August 8, at the DEF CON 29 conference, an Australian researcher known only as 'Sick Codes' detailed what he referred to as a "tractor load of vulnerabilities" that, if exploited by an attacker, would have dire consequences for the global food supply chain. The researcher explained that modern farming equipment is increasingly being automated, with the equipment being controlled from a centralized console that could have access to many different farms.

The researcher detailed a litany of disastrous potential things that can happen if an attacker were able to gain access to the connected farms. For example, a hacker could direct chemical treatments to be over-sprayed, turning fertile land into infertile land that can't be used for generations. With a denial of service attack, the ability for a farmer to plant seeds at a critical time can be impacted, preventing the farmer from growing crops. Another large risk would come from the fact that an attacker could gain control of a farming device like a tractor and send it to the wrong location or even drive it off the farm onto a highway.

"What we consider downtime in a website for five minutes, might be the difference between a tractor driving auto track going offline, while the tractor keeps driving, hits a tree, or injures someone," Sick Codes said.

The Vulnerabilities of the Connected Farm

The researcher noted that ..

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