New research from WFI Insurance has found only a quarter of Australian farmers are considering cyber insurance as a future need, compared with 70% of the broader business population.
The insurer said the results suggest farmers may be underestimating cyber risk as farms adopt more connected technologies, citing Roy Morgan research that around 80% of farms now use some form of agri-tech.
WFI also used the research to promote a new episode of its ‘Good People to Know’ podcast, hosted by WFI Executive General Manager Damien Gallagher, which focuses on cyber crime risks linked to increased digitisation on farms.
“No industry is immune to cyber risk,” Mr Gallagher said, “And for farmers, it’s an unseen risk compared to the more obvious on-farm risks they see in their daily execution of tasks.
“Our research shows the consideration of cyber insurance is significantly lower among agri-businesses compared to other industries. This indicates greater consideration and targeted risk education is needed to ensure farmers are aware of their cyber vulnerabilities.”
Dr Kyle Mulrooney, co-director of the University of New England’s Centre for Rural Criminology, said increased automation and data collection on farms can expand the attack surface.
“Targets can include cyber criminals tapping into smart irrigation systems and flooding crops, and automated tractors being infiltrated to destroy properties. These things can cause immense pain for farmers. They need to think about how to best protect themselves from these types of offenses and whether the technology has a level of inbuilt security.”
WFI said other potential targets include intellectual property such as livestock genetics, as well as personal and employee data. It said robotic milking systems and grain or other storage monitoring systems can also be hacked.
The release references recent advice from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for businesses to strengthen cyber resilience and protect critical assets amid rising threats. It also cited figures showing only around 20% of Australian SMEs currently hold cyber insurance, and that the average cost of cyber crime rose 50% between FY24 and FY25 to an average of $56,000 for a small business, according to an Australian Cyber Security Centre fact sheet.
WFI said agriculture businesses can be attractive targets because operations may run around the clock and disruption during harvest or livestock operations can be costly. Mr Gallagher said the impact can extend beyond the farm gate.
Damien Gallagher said, “For farmers, it’s not only the immediate cost implications from a cyber-attack, but the potential for farming operations to be completely disabled. This can have a knock-on effect across supply chains, and potentially impact food supplies.”
As part of the release, WFI provided a list of 10 steps it said could help farmers improve cyber resilience, including multi-factor authentication, regular backups with an offline copy, staff training to recognise phishing, keeping devices and smart equipment updated, separating operational systems from office networks, limiting remote access, and having an incident response plan. It also suggested farmers consider cyber insurance as part of overall risk management.
