Travel and Logistics firms are a lucrative target for cyber criminals, and this has continued to increase over recent years. Cyber-attacks cause mass disruption to emails, logistics systems and can cost companies millions to recover from. These savage attacks used to occur every few years in the logistics sector, now there seems to be one or two each month.

Common cyber-attacks in the logistics sector include:

Ransomware – This is probably the most impactive cyber-attack and likely the one which keeps business owners up at night. Cyber criminals will happily steal data, encrypt your files, and then blackmail you for the decryption key in a ransomware attack. They don’t care about the others that you can’t support; they want your money for themselves.

Phishing – By far the most prevalent attack as well as being the hardest to defend against. Technical controls can help, but training employees to recognise and report attempts, and successful attacks, is key.

Unfortunately, most cyber criminals do not pick one target and concentrate on them. Modern technology allows them to search huge numbers of websites for vulnerabilities or send thousands of phishing emails in the hopes of finding just one website which they can exploit or one person to clicking on that phishing link.

How can Cyber Essentials help?

Cyber Essentials is a simple and effective Government-backed scheme, supported by industry experts and the Cyber Resilience Centre Network, that will help you put measures in place to protect your organisation, against a range of the most common cyber-attacks. This includes protecting against threats such as malware, ransomware and phishing. Read more here: Cyber Essentials & Plus Training & Certification ¦ ECRC (ecrcentre.co.uk)

As seen in the above study by Lancaster University, Cyber Essentials can fully or partially mitigate up to 99% of common cyber-attacks. Meaning if you meet the Cyber Essentials standard you are less likely to fall victim to a cyber-attack yourself and you will be able to reassure your customers and trustees that you have recognised the threat, risks and have taken proactive steps to minimise the impact.

Don’t forget if you get your Cyber Essentials accreditation, all certified organisations can take advantage of the free £25000 cyber insurance which is provided.

What should I do next?

1. Check your current security standard using the free Cyber Essentials Readiness Tool. The Readiness Tool is an interactive set of questions that addresses different parts of your organisation’s security. A step-by-step action plan is tailored to your requirements based on your answers to the questions.
2. Join our community at the Eastern Cyber Resilience Centre; it’s totally free. We can talk to you about your cyber resilience and can offer guidance to free tools that you can implement straight away.
3. Tell us when you are ready and we can refer you to one of our Trusted Partners, who are cyber essentials accreditors in the East of England. They can accredit your work or provide technical help if required.

Further Guidance and Support

The ECRC is a police-led, not for profit organisation which companies can join for free.

When you join our community, you get:

• Threat alerts both regionally and nationally
• Signposting to free tools and resources from both Policing and the NCSC
• Little steps programme – series of weekly emails which aligns to cyber essentials with bite-sized practical information to build cyber resilience
• Discussion area to meet and talk to other companies in the region and our partners
• Support from the ECRC team

We also work with local university students, who are trained and mentored by senior ethical hackers, to deliver affordable services designed specially for small and medium businesses. So, when you're ready for an insight into if you have common vulnerabilities, are sharing a little too much online or want to review your policies and practices think of us.

You can contact the Cyber Resilience Centre for guidance and support through our e-mail enquiries@ecrcentre.co.uk or use our online booking system to make an appointment with one of our team.

How to report cybercrime

Report all Fraud and Cybercrime to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online.

Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.

Report SMS scams by forwarding the original message to 7726 (spells SPAM on the keypad)