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Figure 2.2: Progression of the Industrial Revolutions and their Main Characteristics 
It uses augmented reality and cloud computing to provide insights into customer decisions 
and preferences, helping organizations improve customer satisfaction. The adoption and 
use of smart sensors, location detection technologies, mobile devices and multilevel 
customer interactions and profiling to improve supply chain effectiveness and value 
creation is the expected outcomes. It involves the digitization of products such that 
manufacturing can be done on demand and customized using such technologies as 3D 
printing. Transparency in business models and improved interactions with customers and 
suppliers are at the core of the business models under 4IR. And it is also in this enhanced 
connectivity and transparent interactions that organizations become vulnerable to cyber-
attacks and cybersecurity risks.

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The critical cybersecurity risks facing the agri-food sector are recognized by those 
charged with overseeing the country’s systems and cybersecurity. For example, the
Department of Homeland Security has labeled the agri-food sector among the 16 national 
critical infrastructures. Thus, just as technological advances have enhanced productivity, 
and provided the agri-food sector with new opportunities, it is here argued that increased 
connectivity and the characteristics of the 4IR present heretofore unimagined risks to the 
sector. For example, computer usage at the primary production level has increased 
significantly over the past decade, with most farm information providers delivering via 
smart phones and other connected devices. That is how the connectivity exposes the 
industry to these risks. However, most of these risks are known and have been researched 
in other industries. The challenge is taking the results of those research products and 
adapting them to fit the unique characteristics of the agri-food sector.