Cyberthreats pose risks to foodsecurity in Africa ~
When it comes to the digitisation of agriculture, countries across sub-Sahara Africa are at varying stages of technology adoption and transformation. But even though smart technology is increasingly used to make agriculture more efficient, there are risks when it comes to minimising human involvement and ignoring the potential of cyberattacks.
Industrial control systems are actively used in food and agriculture industry. According to the ICS threat landscape report by Kaspersky, in the first half of 2022 in the African regions, computers in the ICS environment were attacked using multiple means – malicious objects, phishing pages, and spyware. In total over the last six months various types of malicious objects were blocked on every third ICS computer in South Africa , on 36% of computers in Kenya .
“One of the main reasons so little attention is paid to the fragility of the agriculture industry and the food supply chain is because it ordinarily runs smoothly. However, events during and following the global pandemic of the last three years have highlighted the resultant impact if supply chains get disrupted.
Endpoint anti-malware software is another important component to consider. Malware is intended to cause damage, steal data, encrypt files, or gain unlawful access into digital systems. Because of the critical nature of the food and agriculture industries, malware is the cyber threat faced most often by these organisations. Malware describes numerous malicious software variants, such as trojans, worms, and ransomware.