Food security: Accelerating national protections around critical infrastructure

In this Help Net Security video, Mike Lexa, CISO and Global VP of IT Infrastructure and Operations at CNH, discusses how the federal government is taking food security more seriously and what steps must be taken to prioritize security measures.

What might happen if our food systems were disrupted?

Proactive risk mitigation becomes increasingly important as food demand soars and technical sophistication increases. Technology, including advanced farming equipment, is necessary to counter labor shortages, higher input costs, and growing food demand, but technology also opens the threat landscape.

Why must other critical infrastructures—energy, transportation, communications—be involved in accelerating food and agriculture sector protections? If farmers can’t feed plants due to contaminated water or agriculture is disrupted in a material way due to connectivity, it’s a national security concern. The economy would suffer, and public health would be greatly impacted.

Private players can take steps to prioritize security measures alongside efforts with the federal government—security is everyone’s concern! It’s paramount that companies have up-to-date, step-by-step security and incident protocols and regularly engage in exercises to practice scenarios.