By Dr. Michael Payne, UCD School of Vet Med and Director CDQAP
Preventing and responding to national and international criminal threats requires local, state and federal coordination. That was the focus of the 4th Annual Northern California FBI – InfraGard Symposium, held at the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park on July 21.
Now in its third decade, the InfraGard Program is the FBI’s primary collaboration with private industry. Its mission is to partner to protect sixteen infrastructure sectors, which include energy, water, communications, and agriculture.
After a brief background check, industry representatives can receive intelligence and training that are not typically available to the public. Membership is free and dairy organizations are encouraged to apply. The importance of InfraGard’s membership practices, which include pre-registration and sign-in at meetings, was perhaps best highlighted during the symposium, when several animal rights activists tried to gain entry and were politely escorted out.
Here are some of the non-classified highlights shared at the symposium:
Domestic Terrorism – Attendees were briefed on the frightening variety of ideological crimes that increasingly target critical infrastructure. One case-history detailed the nine-state crime spree extending from California to Wisconsin in which two radicalized animal rights activists released almost 6,000 animals resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage. The couple was only apprehended, convicted, and incarcerated because of citizen reporting to law enforcement.
Cybercrime – Driven largely by Iranian cyber-attacks, assaults on U.S. infrastructure have ballooned, with thousands of probes on water systems in at least twelve states. Aside from state-sponsored terrorism, financially motivated cybercrime also continues to rise, even into agriculture. In one particularly chilling case, AI was used to create a deep-fake video conference, convincing the real CFO to transfer $25 million to cybercriminals. Some, but not all, of the money was recovered and the CFO was dismissed.
It only takes a few cumulative minutes of news or social media recordings for freely available AI programs to create a convincing audio or visual representation of anyone. When faced with a “nephew” needing bail money or “IT staff” needing passwords, the best response is to hang up and confirm the caller’s identity with a known phone number.
Cargo Theft – Digital fraud, identity theft, fake credentials and even GPS signal jammers have fueled dramatic increases in cargo theft, with food and ag products accounting for one-third of all cargo theft incidents. The problem has become so pronounced that partnering with the FBI the California Highway Patrol has developed its Cargo Theft Interdiction Program CTIP.
Rural Crime – Sargent Dan Ager from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department and the highly effective Rural Crime Prevention Task Force (CRCPTF), addressed issues of concern to farmers throughout the state. Highlights included that while new legislation is useful, metal theft remains a persistent problem. Cockfighting is typically associated not only with gambling but also with organized crime activity, including narcotics and firearms. Equipment theft has become increasingly efficient, with tractors, trucks and other heavy equipment arriving in Mexico in less than 24 hours. With the collapse of much of the state’s cannabis industry, many farms have closed, but some are being taken over by Mexican and Asian cartels, for production of black-market cannabis and money laundering.
Law Enforcement Needs Your Help – A central theme throughout the symposium was that the more quickly law enforcement is informed of incidents, the more quickly they can identify a pattern and act. This underlines the importance of Suspicious Activity Reports SARs, which have been instrumental in coordinating response in California, particularly for activist activities. Many dairy organizations trade staff have been trained and are available to help producers submit reports.
CDQAP has partnered with state and federal law enforcement to develop concise and actionable guidance on preventing and responding to rural crime. For more information, email Dr. Michael Payne.