Ransomware (extortion): Agriculture, Switzerland 2023
In November 2023, ransomware encrypted the computer to which the milking robot of the farm with around 70 cows was connected; the perpetrators demanded 10'000 dollars (around 8'600 francs).
- Incident · 11.2023 · Zug (Hagendorn, municipality of Cham), Switzerland
- Evidence: several media
- Ransomware (extortion)
- Devices and control systems
As of
What happened
The farmer did not pay because the robots could keep milking offline, but vital data and insemination data could no longer be accessed. As a result, an emergency with a pregnant cow was recognised too late: the calf died in the womb, and the cow had to be put down.
- Affected
- Vital Bircher dairy farm
- Industry
- Agriculture
- Loss
- just under EUR 7'000 (including vet and new computer, according to the Irish Examiner)
- Business interruption
- unknown
- Ransom demanded / paid
- yes / no
- Data affected
- true
- Bankruptcy
- no
- Entry point
- not stated in the sources
What would cyber insurance have paid?
That depends on the terms. Whether those affected were insured: unknown.
-
Help and negotiation; only some insurers pay the ransom, see note
Mostly add-on 6 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
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Costs of getting data, software and systems running again
Mostly covered 6 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
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Hardware that no longer starts after the attack
Mostly limited 5 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
-
Property damage caused by an attack
Spoiled goods, damaged machine
Mostly not covered 0 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
Overview based on public policy terms, as of 06.11.2026. Only your policy and its general terms and conditions (GTC) are binding. No confirmation of cover.
What we can learn
On the farm too, herd and robot software need regular backups; otherwise an IT outage turns into harm to animals.
Sources
- Kriminelle hacken Schweizer Landwirt – der Cyberangriff endet tragisch (opens in a new window) Netzwoche (nach Watson/Agrarheute) · 2024-08-07
«Daher wurde ein Notfall bei einer trächtigen Kuh zu spät erkannt.»
- Even Ireland's milking parlours are not safe from computer hackers (opens in a new window) Irish Examiner · 2024-08-22
«The cybercriminals encrypted the stored data and demanded a ransom of $10,000 dollars for decryption.»
- Crooks took control of a cow milking robot causing the death of a cow (opens in a new window) Security Affairs (nach swissinfo.ch) · 2024-08-10
«Rebooting the device did not resolve the issue.»