January 30, 2024 at 09:42AM
New legislation, the Farm and Food Cybersecurity Act, aims to boost cybersecurity in the agriculture and food critical infrastructure sectors. It requires biennial cyber threat assessments, reports to congressional committees, and annual crisis simulation exercises over five years. Representatives and senators introduced the bill, with support from various associations and lawmakers.
Key takeaways from the meeting notes:
1. New bipartisan legislation called the Farm and Food Cybersecurity Act has been introduced to improve cybersecurity in the agriculture and food critical infrastructure sectors.
2. The legislation directs the Secretary of Agriculture to assess cyber threats and vulnerabilities in the sector every two years and to provide recommendations for improving security and resilience.
3. The assessment should cover the nature and extent of cyberattacks, potential impact on food safety, readiness to prevent and respond to attacks, policies to improve defenses, and opportunities for improving defenses.
4. The Secretary of Agriculture is required to submit a report to various House of Representatives and Senate committees on the conducted studies.
5. The bill also requires the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a yearly cross-sector crisis simulation exercise over a five-year period to assess preparedness in the event of food-related cyber emergencies or disruptions.
6. The legislation was introduced in the House by representatives Brad Finstad (MN-01) and Elissa Slotkin (MI-07), and in the Senate by senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), with co-sponsorship from over a dozen lawmakers and support from various associations and federations within the agriculture and food sector.
7. Representative Brad Finstad emphasized the importance of securing the nation’s agriculture sector and food supply chain, and stated that the legislation will provide a greater understanding of the susceptibility of the country’s food supply to cyber-attacks and help prevent such attacks in the future.