A Review on Blockchain Applications in Operational Technology for Food and Agriculture Critical Infrastructure

Area of Science:

• Computer Science, Information Systems
• Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
• Agriculture

Background:

• The food and agriculture sector is vital critical infrastructure (CI), facing growing cybersecurity risks due to digitalization of operational technologies (OTs).
• Blockchain technology (BT) offers potential solutions for enhancing security, traceability, and resilience in these critical systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comprehensive bibliometric and content analysis of blockchain applications in securing food and agriculture CI's operational technologies.
• To identify research trends, key contributors, and emerging themes in this specialized field.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of 124 articles from six databases (e.g., Web of Science, MEDLINE).
• Analysis of publication year, literature type, journal distribution, country contributions, and keyword frequency.
• Content analysis to identify key research areas and develop a guiding framework.

Main Results:

• Research surged in 2018; IEEE journals are most prolific. USA, China, and India lead in citations.
• Key frequent keywords include 'blockchain', 'internet of things', 'smart contract', 'security', and 'critical infrastructure'.
• Six research areas identified: authentication, access control, attack detection, data security, backup/recovery, and attribution.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a structured overview of the research landscape, guiding future research and practical applications of BT in food and agriculture CI.
• A proposed framework aims to bridge blockchain innovation with the operational needs of the sector, enhancing CI security.