Farmers’ Guide to Cybersecurity
Social media is increasingly being target by malicious actors such as cybercriminals and state-based actors. The threats can manifest as misinformation, phishing and social engineering and data mining. While many farmers may perceive themselves as a minimal target with not much to lose, all users of social networks are potential victims of cybercrime, with more focused and specialised demographics, such as farmers, being easier to identify and target. Therefore, enhancing your security and privacy on social networks is paramount. Importantly, social media is not limited to Facebook and Instagram. It also encompasses a wide variety of websites, video sharing platforms (YouTube, TikTok), discussion forums, Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter, Threads, Snapchat, Tinder and many more. Basically, social media is any website where you engage in public with other people.
Social media poses several security risks for farmers, each with a significant and unique threat and challenge. The threats include, but are not limited to, revealing personal and farming operation information, password hints, the types of technology used on the farm and much more. In this section we will explore the different types of threats and how to mitigate them.
Social networks will usually ask you to fill in a profile page that will list different details about yourself, such as name, birthdate, current town, birth city, schools you attended, education, qualifications, employment history, children’s names and their birthdates, pet names and so forth. While details such as these may seem relatively harmless, they can open a Pandora's Box of privacy challenges. Many may even result in hacking attempts of your online accounts.
As you may know, when creating online accounts, you may sometimes be asked to create questions and answers to recover a lost password. Many of these password recovery items consist of the very questions that can be answered by looking at a social network profile page. Beyond the threat of security questions, media, such as profile pictures, general pictures, and videos, can reveal far more than just what you look like. They may reveal your farm location through geolocation, connections to accounts and businesses where bad actors may imitate you for financial gain, as well as sensitive information about your farm that should not be made public. For instance, a video may reveal information about a specific crop that could influence gate prices, or media could reveal that certain machinery, such as tractors or utes are left unlocked overnight or when not in use, or perhaps have faulty door locks. These have the potential to cost victims thousands of dollars. Even your publicly available name can become a target of cybercriminals and cyber activists. By identifying your name, occupation and location, adversaries can harass and cause harm.
There are three main ways to reduce the risk of profile pages with the first being the most secure.
Your name can also prove to be an easily exploited target, especially for cyber activists. While a name search may reveal hundreds or thousands of people with the same name, filtering by location can rapidly expose your identity, and that of your family and friends. There are clever solutions to this problem. When it comes to your name on social media, you may choose to purposely misspell it. For example, Sharon McDougall may use a public name like Sha-Ron MacDoug’l or just Sha-Ron, concealing her real legal name, but familiar enough that friends and family will be able to identify her. A spin on your name, while limiting what is on your profile, can help protect you from being targeted by cyber adversaries.
While a spin on your name will help separate your social media profile from your real-world identity, it is not a guaranteed solution for identity protection or a safeguard against being hacked. Think of it as an added barrier to keep online trolls at bay.
There are significant risks that come with sharing too many details on social media. While socially responsible farmers may seek to instil positive information about farming and farming practices to the wider community, it can come at a risk. For instance, a farmer may upload a photo, video or even text-based post that discusses their farm operations. This may include new technologies or farm equipment. This may garner interest from cybercriminals who may seek to exploit potential vulnerabilities.
Check up on your social media privacy settings through the official documentation. It is best to regularly check the settings and official documentations as individual social networks may change them from time to time. While the following list does not include all social networks, it does include the most common.
