The cybersecurity threat to trucking is all too real. Marli Hall, director of communications and member services with the National Motor Freight Traffic Association, explains the nature of the risk and how it can be addressed before an incident occurs.

The cyber threat to the trucking industry is “real,” Hall says. “We need to ensure that we’re educating and getting resources out to the public.” 

As of this moment, Hall says, no known cyber attack has affected rolling assets such as power units and trailers. But she believes that hackers could access vehicles through back-office enterprise systems. It’s possible, for instance, to remotely stop a moving truck “with $300 worth of stuff off the shelf.” 

Cybersecurity must become a vital part of every aspect of supply chain operations, not just trucking, Hall says, evoking the drastic consequences of a hack into ports and other critical elements involved in moving freight.

Important as it might be as a protection against cyber threats, technology alone won’t solve the problem, “You can spend millions on enterprise systems,” Hall says, “but if your staff doesn’t know how to use them and is not trained, then you’re susceptible to malicious actors.”

Personal devices, brought into the workplace by employees, are a particular weak point in cybersecurity protection. Just plugging a phone into a public recharging source can make individuals and their companies vulnerable to an attack.

NMFTA has been working for years to shore up cybersecurity in the trucking industry, as well as partnering with other organizations and government agencies. The need to protect against attacks is paramount, Hall says. “It’s not a matter of it, but when.”