Popular Online Farm Equipment and Land Auction Service Sites Crippled by Ransomware Attack
Popular online auction bidding sites for farm equipment and farmland were the victim of a recent ransomware attack. As a result, sites such as TractorHouse, EquipmentFacts, AuctionTime and HiBid have been offline since Friday.
Over the weekend, the Lincoln Journal Star confirmed Sandhills Global, which hosts various online auction websites, was the target of a ransomware attack.
In a message to its customers, Sandhills Global said, “Systems and operations have been temporarily shut down to protect data and information, and we have retained cybersecurity experts to assist us with the investigation, which is ongoing.”
Sandhills Global went on to say the company is still investigating whether any of their client’s information was compromised, but as of Saturday, the company said it had yet to confirm customer information had been compromised.
The cybersecurity issues were much more than with just one site. Tractorhouse also hosts many small to mid-size equipment dealers’ websites, and the issue spread to those websites, as well. Ohio-based Randall Brothers Farm Equipment saying on Instagram, “Due to issues with Sandhills Publishing, we are experiencing difficulties with our telephone lines and website.”
Rumblings of the issue started Friday as farmers took to social media saying TractorHouse wasn’t accessible.
A land appraiser based in Iowa told Farm Journal several online land auctions were also impacted by the attack since Friday, as many of those auctions use HiBid to host the online bidding. As a result, many of those land auctions didn't even happen due to the cybersecurity issues that sent the bidding service offline.
Pandemic Pushed More Auctions Online
Greg Peterson, who is also known as Machinery Pete, has been in the auction industry and tracking used equipment values for more than 32 years. He says before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, equipment auction companies were starting to use more online bidding, but the pandemic accelerated the adoption of bidding online. And he says today, more than 85% of machinery auctions have online bidding available.
“Over the past 18 months, more and more auction companies, as well as bidders, are using more online bidding,” says Peterson, of MachineryPete.com. “Even folks who are local are even using more online bidding right now.”
Peterson says just last Thursday he covered what he called "a nice farm auction" in Adams, Minn. The sale saw record prices, but hardly anyone was bidding in-person, as most of the bidding occurred virtually. He says fewer people attending in-person is common today and is a sign of how equipment auctions have evolved and changed.
Farmers can search MachineryPete.com for dealer listings of farm equipment across the country as well as for sale by owner listings, upcoming auctions and auction results.
While Sandhills Publishing impacted both land and equipment auctions over the weekend, auction companies are now scrambling to find a solution for other auctions planned this week.
Cyber Attacks on Agriculture
Sandhills Publishing has yet to publicly comment on the ransomware attack. So far, at least 16 of the company’s sites are not accessible. In addition to TractorHouse, AuctionTime, Machinery Trader and HiBid, LiveStockMarket, as well as aircraft, RV and oil field related sites are also effected by hackers who infiltrated Sandhills’ system.
In late September, an attack infected the computer systems of Crystal Valley Cooperative, a Minnesota agricultural co-op that sells fertilizer and other inputs to farmers.
Just a week before that, NEW Cooperative in Iowa was the target for an attack.
