AI Services (Northern Ireland) Ltd. will be hosting a series of 'working safe online' webinars, kicking-off on Tuesday, November 9.

They have been designed to improve farm families’ skill base when it comes to staying protected while using the internet,.

This initiative constitutes a pilot project that has been developed under the auspices of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), and is part of the ongoing ‘Farm Families Key Skills Programme’ in Northern Ireland.

AI Services rural development contract manager, Eamonn Matthews said:

“It’s easy to forget just how much information that farmers and their family members access and actually put online.

“There is also a strong web element associated with modern farm security systems, plus the use of camera and video systems that are used to check on livestock at calving and lambing times," he added.

“And of course all robotic farming and GPS related-systems cannot function without access to the internet.”

Matthews explained that driving all of this, is the accumulation of data. He said that this is information that should be the sole preserve of the farming business concerned, but which could be extremely valuable to others, if they can access it.

A total of 25 webinars has been planned for the coming four months: the first taking place next Tuesday, November 9.

Eamonn Matthews continued: “Numbers per webinar have been restricted to 20 people. This should allow a maximum of 500 farm family members to participate in the events that will take place between now and the end of February next. There is no enrolment fee.

“Each event, which lasts for two hours, will be hosted by an accredited trainer in the field of ICT and online security.

Each webinar provides information and guidance on the following subject areas:

Eamonn Matthews concluded: “The upcoming series of webinars is extremely timely and relevant; a case in point being the recent series of fraudulent basic payment system-related emails that were sent out to farmers throughout Northern Ireland.”

Pre-registration by clicking here, in order to participate in any of the upcoming webinars, is essential according to CAFRE.