2025-08-05 – 00:00-01:00 (Africa/Abidjan), Copa
The U.S. food industry—an essential pillar of national security and economic stability—is increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats and systemic concentration risks. From farm to fork, the sector relies heavily on digital infrastructure for logistics, processing, refrigeration, and supply chain coordination. Yet, many food producers and distributors operate with limited cybersecurity maturity, making them prime targets for ransomware, data breaches, and operational disruption.
This session will explore the dual challenges facing the food sector: the growing frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks, and the economic concentration that amplifies their impact. With a small number of corporations controlling large portions of meat processing, grain distribution, and food logistics, a single cyber incident can ripple across the entire national food supply. The 2021 ransomware attack on JBS Foods, the world’s largest meat processor, is a stark example of how digital vulnerabilities can threaten food availability, pricing, and public trust.
Panelists will examine the policy landscape, including the role of the Food and Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council, recent CISA advisories, and the implications of proposed cybersecurity mandates for critical infrastructure. The discussion will also address economic incentives and disincentives for cybersecurity investment in a low-margin industry, and the need for public-private collaboration to build resilience.
Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the systemic risks facing the food industry, the policy levers available to mitigate them, and the urgent need to treat food security as a national cybersecurity priority.
Whitney Bowman-Zatzkin, MPA, MSR, is a passionate community architect obsessed with connecting the dots to provoke change for the greater good.
Whitney started in healthcare 20 years ago as the manager of a clinical practice, launching its EHR, redesigning the patient record, and engaging in advocacy efforts around maternal-infant health and malpractice reform. Moving to DC, she collaborated with policy leaders on research and policy changes around health professions education and workforce design.
In the past, she has served as the Managing Director of Flip the Clinic, a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Co-PI for Scouting Health, an investigative horizon-hunting effort with Westat. She also led the Great Challenges at TEDMED, producing 50+ broadcasts on the toughest conversations in health care.
Additional projects featuring her work include Digital Therapeutics Alliance, Adoption-Share, VitalCrowd, CPESN, Access our Medicine - a project of Mindset Foundation, and Script your Future, a grassroots adherence project, where she was commended by the U.S. Surgeon General and multiple Members of Congress.
Whitney has a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Survey Research from the University of Connecticut, her research on health insurance models was awarded Best Capstone.
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