The reality most plans miss
When your operation stops, every hour costs more than you think.
Your operations run on controllers inherited from people who retired years ago. Your cold chain depends on systems you can't fully see. Your supply chain has dependencies you don't control.
And most cybersecurity consultants have never been on a farm floor or inside a processing plant at 4am — so their guidance doesn't account for the reality of 24/7 operations, thin margins, or systems that can't go offline for updates.
I have. That changes everything about how the work gets done.
What's actually at stake
JBS paid $11M in ransom
After processing plants went offline. Dole Fresh shut down for weeks. Smaller operations face the same exposure without the same recovery resources.
Cold chain failures are measured in hours
Not days. A refrigeration system failure triggered by a cyber incident doesn't wait for business hours — and spoilage and recall costs accumulate fast.
It's often not obvious it's a cyber incident
When a PLC or automated system misbehaves, most teams assume it's a mechanical failure — not a breach. By the time they figure it out, the window to respond has closed.
Where cyber risk lives in your operation
The vulnerabilities are in the systems you depend on most.
OT/ICS & PLC Systems
Industrial controls
The PLCs, SCADA systems, and industrial controllers running your processing lines, irrigation, and equipment are prime targets. Many run on legacy firmware that can't be patched — and most cybersecurity consultants have never worked with them.
Cold Chain & Refrigeration
Temperature control systems
Automated temperature monitoring and refrigeration controls are frequently network-connected and rarely hardened. A failure—whether cyber-caused or mechanical—starts a clock measured in hours before spoilage, food safety risk, and recall exposure begin.
Ransomware & Production Halt
Business continuity
Food and agriculture has become a priority target. Ransomware that locks production management systems, ERP, or scheduling software can halt operations even when your physical equipment is functional. Recovery without a tested plan takes weeks, not days.
Vendor & Remote Access
Third-party exposure
Equipment vendors, maintenance contractors, and software providers often have remote access to your most critical systems. That access is frequently unmonitored, over-permissioned, and never reviewed after the original installation is done.
Food Safety & HACCP Systems
Compliance & detection
Contamination detection, pathogen monitoring, and quality control systems are increasingly digital and networked. Compromised data integrity in these systems doesn't just create a regulatory problem — it creates a public health risk you may not catch until it's too late.
Is this for you?
This work is for operations that can't afford downtime.
Processing Plant Managers
You're responsible for keeping lines running safely and compliantly. You worry about aging control systems, vendor dependencies, and what happens when something you don't fully understand goes wrong at 2am.
Farm Operators & Ag Producers
Automation brings efficiency. It also brings exposure. You need someone who understands that you can't just shut down irrigation or take equipment offline for a software update in the middle of a growing season.
Food Safety Directors
You know that cyber incidents and food safety incidents can overlap — and that most cyber guidance doesn't account for HACCP, contamination detection, or what a compromised monitoring system means for a recall investigation.
Supply Chain & Operations Leaders
Your resilience depends on systems and vendors you don't fully control. You need visibility into where the dependencies are and a realistic plan for when something in the chain fails — not if.
You don't need to be technical to understand that your operations depend on systems that could fail. You just need someone who can help you prepare for that reality — in plain language, at your pace, without disrupting production. That's what I do.