There was a time when farm security meant a barking dog.
Now, locked doors and security systems greet most unexpected guests to
farms and ranches. Grain bins, shops and machinery sheds are shackled.
No-trespassing signs abound.
Yet some of the most valuable property that a farm has remains
virtually unguarded: the farm’s digital assets.
“Most farmers and small businesspeople don’t know they have digital
assets. Yet many could lose their farm equipment, their buildings and
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still be up and running and doing business again with little
interruption if that stuff were destroyed,” said Terry Roebuck, a
computer analyst and information security officer at the University of
Saskatchewan.
“What if they permanently lost all of their computer records? No
livestock breeding records. No farm books. No banking records. No farm
production data. It might be pretty tough to keep operating in the
short term … yet they don’t do much to prevent those losses.”
In a Farm Credit Canada poll done by Ipsos Reid in the fall of 2001, 66
percent of Canadian farmers surveyed use computers to help manage their
farms.
Of those farmers, 73 percent use them to get market information, 72
percent for gaining product information, 40 percent to communicate with
other producers, 38 percent to make purchases online, 37 percent for
internet banking, and 23 percent each for selling their production and
investing money.
Banking and investing requires personal account numbers and passwords,
purchases require credit information and sales can open the door to
fraud. Each of these internet-based actions opens the door to attacks
on the personal computer and the theft of information.
Symantec makes the well-known Norton computer security software.
Kevin Krempulec manages its small and medium-sized business segment in
Canada. He said many farms and agricultural service businesses are
vulnerable because they “don’t think anyone would be interested in
them.”
But, Krempulec said, “they have valuable payroll information. They keep
bank account records, credit card numbers. They have accounts with
other suppliers that can be defrauded. They are interesting to
criminals because they are vulnerable.”
Roebuck said the latest in technology crime is theft of personal
information and its use to establish false identification and credit.
Once the new identity is established, the thief buys and borrows money
on the basis of those accounts.
“It can be tough to convince someone that you are not the same you that
has charged up all these purchases,” he said.
Bruce Hill of Imperial, Sask., has been helping prairie farmers adapt
to computer technology for more than 15 years.
He said unprotected systems risk “losing all of your farm’s financial
and production records. Breeding information. Dairy production.
Precision farming data. Organic farm production records. You name it.
It can all be gone in an instant from a virus or a hacker.”
Hill said most farmers that use computers are aware of viruses and
hackers and have taken basic steps to protect their systems but these
have done “more to make the farmer feel good about the situation than
actually providing any true protection.”
Most new computer purchases include an anti-virus program. It is
installed immediately after the new operating system. Software and data
is then transferred to the new hard drive and for many computer owners
the next time they even know they have it will be when more software is
installed.
Hill said the first step is to keep the anti-virus program current.
“Update that software every week. It protects your investment. Its
often very inexpensive to buy if you don’t already have it,” he said.
Dave Balderstone is The Western Producer’s director of technical
services and manages the organization’s computer systems.
“You wouldn’t have a farm without having insurance,” he said. “Firewall
and anti-virus software is insurance. Having backups is insurance.
Having a plan to deal with an attack is insurance. And generally, it is
very affordable insurance.”
Roebuck said firewalls protect the user from intruders on the internet
and can also show who and how often someone is trying to access the
computer while they are on-line.
Roebuck said the expansion of broadband or high speed internet access
to farms and rural communities will allow criminals and hackers who are
active in these network systems to have increased access to computers
that until now were of little interest.
He said most of the better programs that provide security won’t
interfere “too much” with computer operations.
“But just like our houses, it would be easier to go in and out if we
didn’t have doors. We could see outside more clearly without windows.
But it just isn’t practical to live like that. We need some protection
from the elements and sometimes from each other,” he said.
Security sources
The following are some sources of software for the home or small
business user:
- Symantec Norton Internet Security 2002 is an anti-virus package,
firewall, ad blocker, a cookie manager, and more. The site also has a
free system vulnerability test: www.symantec.ca.
- Zonelab Zone Alarm is a firewall program free for home users. It logs
and alerts when the system is attacked: www.zonelabs.com.
- The Limit Software provides two programs: CyberClean v1.6 will help
keep virus and hacker-attractive information to a minimum. Cookie
Crusher v2.6 help users manage internet cookies that can infiltrate
computer systems via the internet: www.thelimitsoft.com.
- Softdd’s Complete Cleanup finds and removes cookies cache files, web
history, and location URL history: www.softdd.com.
- Pest Patrol keeps others from monitoring user internet access and
prevents unauthorized use of the computer: www.safersite.com.
- McAffee provides a few products that serve the home and small
business market: www.mcaffee.com.
