The Information Technology – Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC), today announced that its ‘Special Interest Group’ for Food and Agriculture has evolved into the Food and Agriculture – Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Food and Ag-ISAC). The Food and Ag-ISAC will serve as a tailored forum for food and agriculture companies to engage with leading security experts and analysts from industry peers to share cyber and physical threat intelligence, alerts, analysis, and mitigation practices.
The food and agriculture sector is one of the most personally connected critical infrastructures because people depend on the reliable and steady delivery of food. The sector increasingly integrates new technology to feed the nation and the world, bringing important benefits for Americans’ everyday lives. This interdependency also has the potential to increase risk. With the two-year anniversary of the ransomware attack on meat processing company, JBS S.A. approaching, the need for an ISAC dedicated to the food and agriculture industry has never been greater.
Until the formation of the Food and Ag-ISAC, the food and agriculture sector was one of the few remaining U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated critical infrastructures without an ISAC. The formation of the Food and Ag-ISAC comes as threat actors become more sophisticated and coordinated, resulting in growing ransomware attacks and other threats across critical infrastructures.
“The IT-ISAC has been helping food and agriculture companies defend themselves and the global food supply chain for over 10 years, and we are excited that this essential work will continue through the Food and Ag-ISAC,” said Scott Algeier, Executive Director of the IT-ISAC and the Food and Ag-ISAC. “With two dozen leading companies from across the food and ag industry already members, the Food and Ag-ISAC is built by industry for industry. We are grateful for the partnerships we have developed within the industry and look forward to working with them to grow the Food and Ag-ISAC to ensure it meets the needs of its members and the industry.”
Leveraging capabilities built through the IT-ISAC, the Food and Ag-ISAC launches with mature capacity already in place to immediately help the industry keep pace with the increasingly complex threat environment. Underpinned by the IT-ISAC’s 23+ years of experience, partnerships, and abilities, the Food and Ag-ISAC member companies will have day-one access to a trusted intelligence management platform, collaboratively developed adversary attack playbooks, vendor-neutral analyses, ransomware trackers, effective security practices, and regular meetings with analysts in peer companies, among other benefits.
“I applaud the IT-ISAC’s initiative in launching a dedicated ISAC focused on the food and agriculture industry. Food security is national security, and cyber threats present one of the greatest risks to America’s supply chain,” said Representative August Pfluger from the 11th District of Texas. “I introduced the Food and Agriculture Industry Cybersecurity Support Act earlier this year to help support the industry and am pleased to see significant momentum from industry and government in tackling cyber threats.”
“The food and agriculture sector relies on information technology to feed the world, from precision farming to supply chain management and modern production processing, transportation and logistics,” said Paul Hershberger of Cargill, a Board Member of the IT-ISAC and a Founding Board Member of the Food and Ag-ISAC. “Maintaining a close relationship between the Food and Ag ISAC and the IT-ISAC enables critical collaboration between the food, agriculture and technology industries to manage cybersecurity risk across the value chain.”
Food and Agriculture industry companies who are already members of the IT-ISAC can join the newly launched center for no additional cost. This will enable members to take advantage of over $100,000 worth of benefits each year for a fraction of the cost. Founding Board members of the Food and Ag-ISAC are Bunge Limited, Inc., Cargill, Conagra Brands, Corteva Agriscience, Inc. PepsiCo, and Tyson Foods.
To learn more about Food and Ag-ISAC, visit www.foodandag-isac.org or email info@foodandag-isac.org.
