Vilsack Urges Farm Co-Ops to ‘Harden’ Cyber Defenses for Harvest

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged U.S. agricultural cooperatives to “harden” defenses against cyber attacks after Iowa’s New Cooperative Inc. was targeted in a ransomware attack last week.

“We want to make sure during this harvest that we don’t have any additional disruptions as a result of systems being hacked,” Vilsack said Wednesday in a speech to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture’s annual meeting.

A spokeswoman for Vilsack didn’t immediately respond to a request for further information on the threat posed.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation “are in close contact ...