# Survey on Security Threats in Agricultural IoT and Smart Farming
## 3 Security Threats in Modern Agriculture
### Equipment and Data Vulnerabilities, Risks and Threats in Modern Agriculture  
As discussed earlier, the agricultural sector is directly influenced by harsh environmental conditions, such as high temperatures, humidity, rain, winds and other phenomena, which can cause serious damage to electromechanical equipment [66]. All these sensors are susceptible to malfunction, making it possible to provide false measurements and commands which may lead to production disaster [67]. In addition to monitoring and controlling sensors, the wireless networks used in the agri-sector, which are mainly low power such as LoRaWAN, Zigbee, etc., can be affected by the harsh environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, obstacles and human presence as well, an impact that leads in turn to communication and data loss [68; 69; 70]. Moreover, sensors as well as network devices in many cases are physically accessible. This consists a major risk for farmlands, since anyone with malicious intentions can access them either to damage or compromise them in order to make them malfunction [71].  
The collected data from IoT sensors and other machinery in agriculture are now transferred online, which constitutes another potential security risk as well. Data privacy and ownership are a major security issue within the agricultural sector [72], as farmers can suffer serious damage, both in financial and personal terms, in the case of a data breach. The threats to confidentiality are classified into four discrete categories in [65], namely: (i) intentional data theft through smart applications and platforms that are not compliant with confidentiality standards; (ii) internal data thefts from a stakeholder in the supply chain in order to damage an agri-business or a farmer; (iii) unethical data sale to minimize profits for farmers or to damage them; (iv) unattended foreign access to sensitive and confidential data through equipment such as drones, sensors, cameras, in order to use them against farmers or to compromise public security [64; 73].  
In the light of the above, since PA is mainly focused on automated data collection, analysis and decision-making, it is of utmost importance to ensure the integrity and availability of data [64; 65; 67; 74]. Falsification of data, either intentional or unintentional, can have severe consequences, especially since this can affect the decisions made by artificial intelligence (e.g., Machine Learning) algorithms and automation systems leading to the disruption or even the destruction of production [75]. Additionally, false data could lead to dangerous conditions both for the agri-products and human health, possibly resulting in the overuse of fertilizers or pesticides which may travel from the farm to the plate [65].  
Alongside the integrity issue, the availability of data and equipment holds a major role in modern agriculture. An elaborate survey for PA in Australia [76] concluded that the majority of farmers make use of GPS systems and are, thus, susceptible to malfunctions that can lead to missing routes for autonomous vehicles and drones and, consequently, to problems in the cultivation procedure [76]. Through this example, it is clear that, in time-precise sectors such as agriculture, the availability of the equipment and systems utilized by farmers is critical [64; 65; 77].  
The aforementioned risks, vulnerabilities and threats exist in every agriculture application which engages modern ICT and IoT technologies. Complementing the aforementioned threats, the next subsection is mainly focused on cybercrime activities and exploitable vulnerabilities in ICT technologies and provides a more detailed and elaborate presentation of the dangers and their causes in terms of cybersecurity in the agri-sector.