Cyber Security

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. ERNST. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank my senior Senator from our great State of Iowa for his wonderful contributions to our agriculture sector. This is an extremely important topic that we are bringing to the floor today, the threat of agriculture ransomware.

From grocery stores in Iowa to New York and every State in between, it is no secret that the price of groceries has drastically increased over the course of the past year. Combining that with the ongoing supply chain disaster, it is even more apparent that the last thing we need is a cyber security attack that would shut down any of our agriculture production.

Like many Iowans, I am increasingly concerned about the growing ransomware attacks on our Nation's ag economy. In a 2019 report, researchers from the University of Minnesota outlined the seriousness of the risk of cyber attacks to the American food and agriculture system. The report indicated that American agriculture is extremely vulnerable due to outdated security, poor coordination among businesses, and lack of emphasis on cyber security within the industry.

In June, the world's largest meat processing company, JBS, was attacked by a Russian-based operation. Nine U.S.-based meat packing plants temporarily shut down as a result of that attack, including the JBS pork processing plants in Marshalltown and Ottumwa, IA.

Similarly, NEW Cooperative, an Iowa grain cooperative that controls 40 percent of the grain distribution in our country, was recently targeted with a cyber attack by another Russian cyber crime. They attacked controlled crop irrigation, livestock feed schedules, and inventory distribution, and then they demanded $5.9 million in ransom.

Another attack hit Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company, based in Arcadia, IA. This was coordinated by another Russian attacker, who threatened to release sensitive data, including financial, sales, and accounting information.

This is a very serious warning sign for our ag industry. It is a problem primed to increase as farmers incorporate more technology into their daily lives. Precision agriculture, for example, has promising potential to fulfill increasing global food supply and demand while also improving our soil and water quality, but it demands heavy reliance on interconnected devices and the internet, creating vulnerability. Attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities to remotely control and disrupt data flow, potentially causing devastating consequences, especially as farmers move their crops and their livestock to market.

These attacks risk the livelihood of farmers and affect the supply chain that puts food on the shelves and on our families' tables all across our country. That is why I believe 21st-century farming needs 21st-century solutions. The security, safety, and resiliency of our food supply chain is integral to the overall security of our Nation.

The ag sector is designated as critical infrastructure, but historically, it has not received robust cyber security support from the government.

Just recently, I joined Senator Grassley in urging Secretary Mayorkas to address these ransomware attacks on agriculture and to leverage the Department's resources to prepare for any future attacks. The Biden administration outlined a new national security memorandum that would include cyber security as it relates to agriculture, but the plan is voluntary and would severely limit its effectiveness. It is why I joined Senators Grassley, Stabenow, and Tester in an effort to get both the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who oversees the Food and Drug Administration, permanent representation on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

The legislation also adds new criteria to ensure that proposed transactions are reviewed specifically for their potential impact on American food and agricultural systems. The increasing trend of foreign investment in our food and ag system should be met with careful scrutiny in order to safeguard the security and safety of our food supply and, by extension, our Nation because, after all, food security is national security.

Again, I thank my senior Senator Chuck Grassley for leading these efforts to protect our agriculture industry, the livelihoods of Iowans, and everyone else who puts food on their table.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source