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REVIEW article
Front. Big Data
Sec. Cybersecurity and Privacy
Volume 8 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdata.2025.1556157
Safeguarding Digital Livestock Farming -A Comprehensive Cybersecurity Roadmap for Dairy and Poultry Industries
Provisionally accepted- Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
The rapid digital transformation of dairy and poultry farming through big data analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) innovations has significantly advanced precision management of feeding, animal health, and environmental conditions. However, this digitization has simultaneously escalated cybersecurity vulnerabilities, presenting serious threats to economic stability, animal welfare, and food safety. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the evolving cyber threat landscape confronting digital livestock farming, examining ransomware incidents, hacktivist interference, and state-sponsored cyber intrusions. It critically assesses how compromised digital systems disrupt critical farm operations, including milking routines, feed formulations, and climate control, profoundly impacting animal health, productivity, and consumer trust. Responding to these challenges, we present a comprehensive cybersecurity roadmap that integrates established IT security practices with agriculture-specific requirements. The roadmap emphasizes advanced solutions, such as AI-driven anomaly detection, blockchain-based traceability, and integrated cybersecurity-biosecurity frameworks, tailored explicitly to safeguard livestock farming. Additionally, we highlight human-centric elements such as targeted workforce education, rural cybersecurity capacity building, and robust cross-sector collaboration as indispensable components of a resilient cybersecurity ecosystem. By synthesizing technical advancements, regulatory perspectives, and socio-economic insights, the paper proposes a proactive strategy to enhance data integrity, secure animal welfare, and reinforce food supply chains. Ultimately, we underscore that effective cybersecurity is not merely a technical consideration but foundational to ensuring the sustainable, ethical, and trustworthy advancement of livestock agriculture in a datadriven world.
Keywords: cybersecurity, Digital livestock farming, big data, Iot (internet of things), AIdriven analytics, Blockchain, biosecurity, food supply chain resilience
Received: 06 Jan 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Neethirajan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Suresh Neethirajan, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
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