Security Assessment of Agriculture IoT (AIoT) Applications

Abstract

Cybersecurity is an important field in our digital world. It protects computer systems and communication networks against theft or sabotage of information to guarantee trouble-free operation in a trustworthy working environment. This article gives an overview of a cybersecurity assessment process and an appropriate Cybersecurity Management (CSM) implementation for future digital agriculture applications. The cybersecurity assessment follows the IEC 62443 cybersecurity standard for Industrial Automation Control Systems (IACS), adapted to Agriculture Automation Control Systems (AACS). However, the research results showed application differences; thus, an expansion of the standard is necessary to fill the existing open security gaps in agriculture. Agriculture differs from industrial control systems because of the outdoor located field area, which requires other forms of security. An appropriate cybersecurity standard for the agriculture domain is not currently available. However, such a standard will be necessary to define generally applicable procedures to protect agricultural assets against cyberattacks. The cybersecurity standards and regulations existing today (2021) are not sufficient for securing the agriculture domain against new and domain-specific cyberattacks. This article describes some of the cyber vulnerabilities identified and provides initial recommendations for addressing them.

Keywords

• cybersecurity
• agriculture
• Information Technology (IT)
• Operation Technology (OT)
• Internet of Things (IoT)