A few years ago, cybersecurity on the farm meant locking the barn doors and hoping no one walked off with your tools. Now? It means asking if your feed system is encrypted, or if your calving barn camera is broadcasting publicly because the default password never got changed.

Farms today are full of connected systems—automated feeders, smart gates, IP cameras, weather stations, you name it. But most of the folks using them weren’t told they needed to think about firewalls or VLANs. And to be honest, no one’s ever really explained it well.

So here’s what I see happening, and how we fix it.

What Makes Farms Vulnerable?

1. Default Credentials

This one’s simple but deadly. Most off-the-shelf gear—cameras, routers, smart controllers—ship with default logins like admin/admin. And they stay that way. I’ve literally found exposed webcams on farms still using factory settings.

2. Flat Networks

Everything talks to everything. Your personal laptop is on the same network as your IP camera, your feed control unit, and your smart TV. One infected device? The whole network’s exposed.

3. No Updates, Ever

Out-of-sight means out-of-mind. But the firmware that runs your wireless bridge or smart controller could be full of vulnerabilities. I’ve logged into devices that haven’t been patched in five years.

4. No Real Threat Model

Most people don’t think anyone would target their farm. But bad actors don’t care who you are—they care that your network is exposed, and that you might click the wrong link, download the wrong file, or leave a door wide open.

What Real Protection Looks Like (and Doesn’t)

You don’t need a full-blown SOC or next-gen threat intel. You need layered, intentional decisions. Here’s what I recommend to nearly every rural client I talk to:

• Unique passwords on every device. Store them in a password manager.
• VLANs or basic network segmentation: keep smart gear isolated from personal gear.
• Firmware updates on a regular cadence—monthly or quarterly is a solid start.
• No remote access unless it’s necessary, and then lock it behind a VPN or access control list.
• Visibility: Install a tool like Pi-hole or simple traffic logging so you know what devices are phoning home.

A Familiar Mindset

When I was running secure comms in the Navy, we didn’t rely on blind trust. Every system had a threat model. We assumed failure could happen, and we built in margins of error. That mindset—question everything, build redundancies, keep it simple—applies perfectly to securing rural systems today.

You don’t need to become a cybersecurity expert. But if you rely on connected tech for safety, efficiency, or business continuity, you do need to treat it like infrastructure.

Because it is.

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Currently patching a five-year-old wireless bridge in a cattle barn and wondering how many other devices still use “123456” as a password.

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