The logistics industry has its own set of challenges when it comes to cybersecurity gaps. For example, if a restaurant doesn’t receive its shipments on time due to a hack that causes systems to falter, it can cause operations to potentially shutdown. This in turn, causes logistic companies to lose their clientele. However, it is not an insurmountable feat for shipping and logistics companies, as there are many ways to protect your organization from becoming the next victim of a cyberattack.
According to Security Intelligence, ForwardAir, a trucking and freight transportation logistics company suffered a Hades malware infection in December 2020. The incident led to huge disruptions to ForwardAir’s operations as drivers and employees couldn’t access the necessary documents to clear transports through customs. In response, the company was forced to take all of its IT systems offline while it dealt with the attack. The attack cost the company 7.5 million dollars.
Balancing defense and advancements in technology is not simple. Modern tools have left many trucking and logistics companies struggling to adequately protect their data.
The Internet of Things (IoT) devices that support logistics operations are the same devices that are becoming more challenging to protect from cybercriminal groups like REvil and Darkside, Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operations that are responsible for crippling entire organizations with ransomware attacks. Malicious actors can easily expose software security gaps and wreak havoc on a business.
Logistics and trucking entities very often permit access to their network for suppliers, partners, and vendors to promote efficiency in the delivery process. However, this opens a passageway for cyber criminals to steal internal information. Security gaps began to reveal themselves shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic pushed 85% of businesses to quickly enable remote work without addressing security concerns first, according to Netwrix. Since the demand for products being shipped to our homes — for convenience — has spiked since the beginning of the pandemic, IoT devices have become harder to protect. The number of active hand-held devices in the field used by truck drivers, freight forwarders, and mail-delivery employees have increased dramatically. Typically, mail-delivery employees and freight forwarders are required to give their hand-held to the recipient when a package is delivered for confirmation. These hand-held devices already lack security by design – mitigating risk by protecting a fraction of them imposes a steeper challenge for freight transportation logistic companies than securing every endpoint located in an office building.
According to Eye for Transport (EFT), most of the industry’s leaders aren’t equipped to address cybersecurity threats, nor do they have a strategy in place. EFT revealed that 57% of trucking and logistics organizations don’t have a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), while only 79% of those same companies feel they need one. However, not taking any meaningful approach to cyber defense isn’t a solution, but leaves every window and door open to malicious actors.
Creating a strategy to defeat cybersecurity threats means either developing your own Security Incident Event Management (SIEM) system or Security Operations Center-as-a-Service (SOCaaS). Developing your own internal security software and acquiring the labor to manage it may not fit your IT budget. Cybersecurity is a necessity to transport shipments efficiently and safely from point A to point B. Without secure devices and systems in place, the trucking and logistics industry will remain vulnerable and cannot serve its vendors to the best of their ability and security will remain in jeopardy. While IT teams can lead training sessions on cybersecurity practices and phishing schemes, systems need to be put in place to detect threats. AgileBlue’s Soc-as-a-Service offers 24/7 automated monitoring and detection so that you can operate without worrying about potential cyber threats. We also focus on securing IoT devices and ensure that no endpoint goes undetected in your organization. Request a demo.
