Why Cybersecurity Plans are Important for the Trucking Industry

As 2022 gets underway, one item should be on the top of the list for any businesses involved with trucking and transportation industry: insuring you are fully protected and prepared when it comes to cybersecurity and the potential of a cyber attack.

Led by president Derek Veillon, the team of IT experts at Frisco-based IT ArchiTeks are very familiar with the impact of a cybersecurity breach and how to respond before it potentially ruins a business. In service for a decade, the team of dedicated, strategic IT professionals have witnessed the changing face of the trucking and transportation industry and how the rise in cybercrime such as data breaches, malware, phishing and ransomware is making its mark.

From lost data and income to a damaged reputation and the loss of clients, if you aren’t prepared with a firm cybersecurity plan in place that reduces your business’ risk and ensures you have the resources to rebuild after a security/data breach, now is the time to get one in place.

You are probably accustomed to hearing stories on the news of cyber attacks on well-known companies and corporations and how they recovered and implemented new strategies and trainings to prevent such detrimental acts from happening again.

The threats of cyber attacks and their impact for the trucking and transportation sector is a growing concern. Fleets are more connected than ever through GPS, Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs), and other various mobile capabilities which can be easily accessed by hackers looking to collect financially or just disrupt the system.

A 2021 mid-market report from cybersecurity company, Coro, shows escalating cyber attacks trucking and transportation companies who are already facing challenges due to the supply chain shortage. In the report, Coro found transportation stands out as one of the fastest growing sectors with attacks already having risen almost 150% since January 2020.

Unfortunately, many trucking and transportation companies are easily exposed to cyber attacks which continue to grow in frequency. It’s essential they prioritize cybersecurity technology to keep the business, their clients, and their employees protected 24/7.

Back in December 2020, a major transportation company based in the southern U.S. was one of many companies across the country who were targeted in a cyber incident, knocking the less than truckload (LTL) carrier’s operating systems and call center offline.

According to the company’s chief operating officer, he wasn’t aware of how the hackers infiltrated the company’s systems. As soon as the threat was detected, they immediately informed federal law enforcement and engaged IT ArchiTeks to lead the entire recovery effort and build a better cybersecurity plan to prevent another incident like this in the future.

Within hours of being notified that their client’s systems were compromised, IT ArchiTeks deployed an emergency team to their location. Upon first arriving, they determined that most of the company’s backups were compromised in the attack.

The team spent the next few weeks meticulously recovering the file servers as well as other production equipment that had been infiltrated. They implemented a full backup and disaster recovery plan and built a brand new, locked-down network environment that would offer the company better protection from future cyber attacks and threats. As a result, in less than a week, the IT ArchiTeks team was able to bring most of their central systems back online and the remainder of the affected systems were fully recovered over the next few months.

“Time is of the essence when it comes to cybercrimes,” according to Veillon. “Our client’s proactive approach in securing an experienced group like IT ArchiTeks further emphasizes the importance of having the appropriate IT support if your company is hit by a cyber attack to mitigate the least amount of damage.”

As you evaluate your cybersecurity measures for 2022 and what steps you need to take to ensure your company has an action plan, Veillon and the team at IT ArchiTeks recommend the following measures as a starting point:

1. Conduct a Cyberattack Assessment.
   Evaluate what plan you currently have in place when it comes to dealing with a cyberattack and establish where your strengths and weaknesses or vulnerabilities lie. It’s recommended to conduct an assessment once a year.
2. Employee training.
   Weak passwords are one of the easiest ways for a cybercriminal to hack into your network. Ensure your employees know how to create a strong password. It’s also important to train staff on how to recognize phishing emails, which tend to look like legitimate company-sent emails but can contain harmful malware or ransomware that can infiltrate your network and allow hackers access to sensitive data.
3. Backup your systems.
   It is vital to conduct regular backups for your entire data infrastructure including all devices and servers. In the instance your data is compromised, or you are locked out, having a backup of your data is imperative to access important files and can instill trust in your customers and employees should an attack occur.
4. Have an incident response plan in place.
   Don’t wait until it is too late to create your cybersecurity response plan. Many cybercriminals are banking that you don’t have one and it’s only a matter of minutes until they access your data. It is critical that everyone in the organization knows their roles and responsibilities and can identify potential threats or problems and act quickly before a cyberattack puts your business in jeopardy.

The professional cybersecurity solutions from IT ArchiTeks can significantly reduce the risk to your trucking or transportation business should you fall victim to a cyber attack. We have years of combined experience when it comes to preventing and managing cybersecurity threats to keep your business, employees, and clients safe. Call the IT ArchiTeks team today and let us help you implement the best cybersecurity plan.