5 Ideas for Revamping a Cybersecurity Plan at a Freight Company

Managers of logistics companies everywhere are starting to think more about their firms’ cybersecurity positions because cyberattacks continue to occur, and the number of attack attempts will only continue to grow. Here are five ways you can revamp a cybersecurity plan at a freight company and help protect your shippers’ information.

1. Always Use the Best Encryption Possible

Information technology departments often have to rely on older encryption technologies simply because nobody ever told them to upgrade. This is a shame because many newer hashing methods are far safer than the older methods these firms rely on. Consider updating the system you use to store customer credentials as well as waybills and all other shipping details.

2. Attend Training Sessions

Organizations that support the entire freight industry offer innovative training courses that can help staffers learn about all of the latest developments in cybersecurity. Though it’s probably difficult to schedule time for these kinds of classes, they’re important enough that you might want to consider taking time off for them. Many services are providing an increasingly large amount of content online, so you may be able to tackle everything without having to leave your current dispatching center.

3. Use an Appropriate Resource Manager

Depending on the type of desktop operating system your dispatchers are using, there’s a good chance that you already have at least some kind of task manager who can point out if something shouldn’t be running on your servers. This is especially true of larger trucking companies and railroads that decided to build their entire systems on top of commercial-grade operation systems. Those who want to use open-source software may instead elect to compile a few command line tools that give them an overview of everything running on their systems. If they see anything out of the ordinary, there’s a good chance that some library got compromised.

4. Install All Relevant Updates

Saying so could look a bit pedantic, but it’s important to remind everyone at work to update both their system software and their browsers. More than one major cybersecurity leak happened because someone didn’t patch a mail client or newsreader. Such attacks are particularly harmful to freight carriers because customer details are such a juicy target for potential bad actors. Running the latest version of every program your company uses is quite possibly the only way to prevent zero-day attacks.

5. Build a Solid Firewall

Software firewalls can only do so much. Freight carriers that have their own private networks need boxed solutions that sit between their router and each of the workstations attached to it. Tech-savvy administrators should check out every mobile device their drivers use as well. A number of cellular attacks have exposed potentially sensitive information at some of the world’s largest phone companies, so it’s good to stay abreast of these problems as well.

Consider keeping some sort of backup communications equipment onboard each truck as well. Though this might seem unnecessary now, it’s a great idea for those who dispatch trucks locally and don’t want to be at the whims of the phone company if anything happens to their network in the future.

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Eden Ellis

Eden Ellis, a Business Strategist with an MBA, specializes in corporate strategy, market analysis, and entrepreneurship. His experience with multinational corporations and startups provides a unique lens through which he examines business dynamics, offering actionable insights for companies navigating the complexities of the modern business environment.
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