How to Protect Your Supply Chain from Growing Cybersecurity Threats

Sole responsibility for cybersecurity once fell to IT departments, which protected their organizations using castle-and-moat network security models, such as firewalls and virtual private network (VPN) solutions. While many of these solutions remain in effect today, they only protect devices and equipment within a defined network perimeter. Today’s business environment doesn’t always work that way.

In the modern world of logistics and supply chain, protecting servers and desktop computers isn’t enough. Connectivity is a key element of an efficient supply chain, which means companies must look beyond their own four walls and consider how integrations with vendors, suppliers, and service providers impact their cybersecurity threat landscape.

After all, even one compromised password or a single wrong click in an email can give bad actors access to important systems—and potentially any integrated third-party systems, as well. The results can be expensive, disruptive, and catastrophic, ranging from intercepted freight loads to being locked out of key systems.

Why Logistics Is Such a High-Value Target for Cyberattacks

Cybercriminals and hostile state actors have increasingly targeted the supply chain in recent years, with cyberattacks targeting logistics increasing 965% between 2021 and 2025. Logistics is an appealing target because there are many points of entry, with transportation and warehouse management systems, telematics, API integrations, remote-access tools, mobile endpoints, customer portals, and more. While all these components are required to keep freight moving efficiently in today’s modern supply chain, every system and tool offers a potential threat vector for hackers.

Ransomware has become one of the most common attacks for logistics. This special type of malware locks access to critical systems, and bad actors demand a ransom, hence the name, to restore access. However, this isn’t the only type of attack to worry about. Other relatively common attack types may include:

• Phishing. A phishing attack is often something seemingly innocuous, such as a hyperlink in an email or text message or a compromised file attachment. Accessing the link or file then introduces malware into a system.
• Social engineering. Social engineering refers to bad actors impersonating an employee’s boss, coworker, friend, or supply chain partner to get the employee to reveal sensitive information or access credentials.
• Operational technology (OT). Cybercriminals are increasingly breaching operational technology assets, such as IoT sensors or navigation systems, enabling them to falsify data or potentially find a backdoor into the corporate network.
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS). A DDoS attack overwhelms a public-facing access point, such as a customer portal or website, with so much traffic that it cannot function properly. In logistics, this can make it impossible for a logistics provider or shipper to book or track freight movements.
• Third-party. Rather than attacking a large corporation head-on, bad actors will often attempt to breach a company’s systems through an API connection to a third-party vendor or service provider with less robust security measures in place.

“Providing reliable logistics services is all about trust and responsiveness,” says Frank Crivello, founder and chairman of Phoenix Investors. “Cybersecurity is about protecting those connections and relationships. It isn’t just about defending your own network. It’s about ensuring your network is defended well enough that your partners’ networks also remain safe and secure.”

5 Ways to Keep Your Logistics Network Safe from Cyberattacks

Digital security is an essential part of modern logistics efficiency, making it essential that shippers work with logistics providers and other partners that have elevated cybersecurity from an IT problem to an enterprise-wide concern. Here are some tips to help mitigate cybersecurity risks in your logistics function.

1. Build a security mindset into your operation. Start with requiring strong passwords, enabling multifactor authentication, and establishing role-based permissions for critical systems. Make sure your IT team regularly reviews access permissions to remove former employees and partners who may still have access.
2. Keep your mobile device network updated. Device lifecycle management is a challenge for any IT department. But in logistics, it is essential to keep all of your organization’s mobile devices (laptops, cell phones, tablets, and OT assets) up to date with the latest firmware versions and operating system patches to protect against emerging threats.
3. Keep your enterprise software updated. Software providers regularly release updates and patches to fix vulnerabilities in their systems. Keep warehouse management solutions, transportation management systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and other enterprise technologies up to date with the latest patches to address the latest vulnerabilities.
4. Ask your current and new partners about security. Logistics is a collaborative function, and most companies have partners that have at least limited access to internal systems and data. Ask what security standards they follow, how they protect data (both at rest and in transit), whether they use multifactor authentication, and what method and how quickly they will notify you if a security incident occurs.
5. Train your teams. Cyberattacks often rely on a human element to succeed. Ensure your staff is trained on how to recognize phishing and social engineering attacks (fake login pages, suspicious emails, unexpected requests for payment or routing, etc.). This training should be conducted regularly so employees understand the latest risks and threats.

It isn’t possible to completely eliminate cyber risks from your organization. However, logistics leaders who treat cybersecurity as a critical component of broader operational resilience will make it much harder for fraudsters and cybercriminals to succeed. With well-trained employees, a strong partner governance framework, and disciplined access procedures, you can ensure that your freight keeps moving and arrives where it’s supposed to.

About Phoenix Logistics

Strategic Real Estate. Applied Technology. Tailored Service. Creativity. Flexibility. These fundamentals reflect everything we do at Phoenix Logistics. We provide specialized support in locating and attaining the correct logistics solutions for every client we serve. Most logistics competitors work to win 3PL contracts and then attempt to secure the real estate to support them. As an affiliate of giant industrial real estate firm Phoenix Investors, we can quickly secure real estate solutions across its portfolio or leverage its market and financial strength to quickly source and acquire real estate to meet our clients’ needs.