Dairy plants experienced ransomware attacks
Hackers have again targeted the American ag industry.
Dairy Farmers of America recently revealed that multiple of its 84 nationwide manufacturing plants experienced ransomware attacks and took the necessary steps to mitigate any potential damage.
“We immediately contained the threat and were swiftly able to get impacted facilities operational to continue receiving and processing milk,” the organization told Dairy Herd Management. “We are working diligently with our IT professionals and cybersecurity experts toward full recovery as quickly and safely as possible.”
Ransomware is one of the tools hackers can use to disrupt operations.
This method sees hackers lock users out of computer networks then ask for a payment before restoring access.
And criminals appear to be targeting agriculture more.
Honeywell’s 2025 Cyber Threat Report looked at files, blogs, and other online activities from Oct. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
During that time, it recorded 1,929 publicly documented ransomware attacks.
“Ransomware attacks tend to be more opportunistic, typically creating a normal distribution of attacks across different industries,” the report says. “That said, attacks on agriculture and food production organizations are exponentially increasing.”
Honeywell’s reporting indicates agriculture and food production accounted for about 8 percent, or 154 attacks.
The construction and manufacturing sectors each experienced 21 percent of the attacks.
In total, victims paid more than $1 billion to hackers during that window.
Ransomware in ag has also been on the FBI’s radar.
In September 2021 it put out a Private Industry Notice to warn the ag and food sectors about possible attacks.
In reporting on cybersecurity in the past, Farms.com has connected with John So, an IT manager with VL Interactive, about how people can protect their sensitive information.
Updated antivirus software is a good place to start, So said.
“A good antivirus program can pick up like 99 percent of the tools a hacker might use,” he said.”