Political Quotes

“earlier this month, Senator Ernst and I sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas asking the Secretary to address the devastating cyber attacks conducted on our national agricultural sector. Agriculture is designated as one of the country's 16 critical infrastructure industries but historically has not received robust cyber security support from our government. Attacks from foreign cyber criminals are threatening both the livelihood of our farmers and the security of the food that we eat. Last month, NEW Cooperative, an Iowa grain co-op, was the target of BlackMatter, a Russian cyber criminal cell. The cyber attack shut down systems that control crop irrigation, livestock feed schedules, and inventory distribution. NEW Cooperative comprises about 40 percent of the grain distribution in our country. The co-op narrowly managed to avert a crash in grain prices without paying a $5.9 million ransom. These attacks are not limited to just large distributors. The Russian group BlackByte claimed it attacked Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company, an Iowa grain co-op with just four locations. BlackByte is threatening to release 100 gigabytes of sensitive data, including financial, sales, and accounting information, if a ransom is not paid. The extent of the damage from the NEW Cooperative and the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company attacks is not isolated to the grain market. Feed from these co-ops sustain more than 11 million head of livestock.…”