Food and Agriculture | South Carolina Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity

The Food and Agriculture Sector is almost entirely under private ownership and consists of:

Farms
Restaurants
Registered food manufacturing, processing, and storage facilities

South Carolina is home to 25,000 farms and 4.8 million acres of farmland. Agribusiness (which includes agriculture and forestry) is the state’s largest economic sector. With an increased reliance on technology in farming, food manufacturing, processing, and storage, cybersecurity has become an ever-present concern for the sector.

SC CIC supports the Food and Agriculture Sector by offering services that easily adapt to the sector’s needs. With a large employee base working in production, phishing and security awareness training is invaluable to test the knowledge of their network users and provide targeted training to continuously encourage good cybersecurity hygiene. Readiness exercises also allow the IT and security teams to ensure that their plans, policies, and procedures are supporting these users effectively and that they are prepared to respond should something go awry. Finally, SC CIC threat intelligence provides sector-specific intelligence that keeps everyone aware of the threats they are most likely to encounter.

Resources for the Food and Agriculture Sector:

South Carolina Department of Agriculture

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture is tasked with overseeing and promoting agriculture across the state of South Carolina. The Department of Agriculture promotes the growth and development of the industry by offering services and resources directly, while also ensuring that the security and safety of the public is maintained.

Agriculture professional holding a smartphone and standing in a field of crops

South Carolina Farm Bureau (SCFB)

South Carolina Farm Bureau (SCFB) is a statewide association responsible for strengthening the agriculture industry of South Carolina through advocacy, education, and building connections across the farming communities.

Agriculture professional within an indoor growing facility and interacting with a bank of computer monitors

CISA | Food and Agriculture Sector Webpage

CISA’s Food and Agriculture Sector webpage contains detailed information on what types of organizations belong to the Commercial Facilities Sector in the U.S. along with federal plans for the sector (Commercial Facilities Sector-Specific Plan) and all critical infrastructure in the country (National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)). Sector-specific plans address how the NIPP should be utilized while considering each sector’s unique perspective.

Agriculture worker at a computer in a crop processing facility.

Food and Agriculture Information Sharing & Analysis Center (ISAC)

Information Sharing & Analysis Centers (ISACs) help critical infrastructure professionals protect their infrastructure and employees from cybersecurity threats through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of threat information. ISACs help increase situational awareness across the critical infrastructure sectors through information sharing, partnerships, and networking opportunities.

Agriculture professional standing in a field sowed with crops

CISA | Food and Agriculture Cybersecurity Resources

Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), created this webpage dedicated to cybersecurity in the Food and Agriculture Sector. The webpage details recommended steps to secure Food and Agriculture organizations with links to CISA services and other resources for the sector.