The feds warn that hackers could hold Midwestern harvests hostage with ransomware

Cyber Warfare has been happening for awhile now, and will only increase in the future. Using weapons of destruction will be the final blow in the future, once power grids, finance markets, transportation networks, and anything else that relies on electronics are brought to a screeching halt.

In the Cryptology world, knowing what the adversary was going to do, before they did it, always took the element of surprise away from them and allowed us to prepare. Battle of Midway was a valuable "lesson learned" in history as to why gathering intelligence is a key factor to success.

Troubling post PO1 William "Chip" Nagel. Definitely need to protect against threats..!

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Don Roose — who founded U.S. Commodities, a commodity management firm in Des Moines, Iowa — said he’s seen companies become more aware of their cybersecurity practices in the wake of ransomware incidents.

They’ve established protocols for handling attacks and have contingency plans in place to get back to operation.

“Going forward, I think those types of arrangements are going to be more mandatory,” Roose said. “There’ll be government regulations and regulators will make sure you have a tight security program.”

At stake: the entire food supply chain.

“It wouldn’t take long for a severe disruption to our food supply to affect everyone,” Kowel said. “The ramifications of cyber intrusions in the agricultural sphere affects everybody.”