Transportation
Transportation companies have long been a target for ransomware attacks. In 2016, for instance, shipping giant Maersk lost more than $300 million in revenue because of the NotPetya attack.1 Seventy-four percent of transportation companies reported a ransomware attack between 2021 and 2022.2
One of the key security considerations facing transportation companies relates to the complex supply chains associated with the sector. These generally involve multiple stakeholders such as suppliers, manufacturers, logistics providers and service contractors. Each entity is a potential entry point for an attack. The industry is alive to the threat, with 93% of supply chain businesses taking steps to make their supply chains more resilient.3
Another security challenge comes from the growing threat surface resulting from increased connectivity in ports and transport hubs as well as in vehicles themselves. Wireless communications are used extensively in the transportation sector for use cases such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and remote monitoring. These connections are at risk of everything from eavesdropping and jamming to unauthorised access.
The presence of public WiFi in transport hubs and vehicles is also a consideration. Public WiFi, such as is now offered on many airplanes, is usually fairly easy to hack.4 Criminals on a flight can use the connections to hack into airline customer and employee devices. Just last year, researchers found two potentially serious security vulnerabilities in wireless devices used on airplanes, which could have been exploited to steal data or plant malware on endpoints.5
Finally, as Pelle Aardewerk, cyber security consultancy lead – personal systems services Europe, HP explains: “Transportation businesses use remote monitoring and control technologies for a wide range of use cases including fleet tracking and management, diagnostics and management, environmental monitoring and remote vehicle control. Remote access represents a potential entry point for malware and unauthorized access to critical infrastructure and needs to be secured as a priority.”
Remote access represents a potential entry point for malware and unauthorised access to critical infrastructure and needs to be secured as a priority.
As transportation continues to digitise, CIOs should look to extend security controls beyond the network and into devices. Key recommendations from HP include:
Secure the supply chain. By selecting technology partners with proven security credentials, transportation companies can reduce their own risk profile. CIOs should therefore look for vendors that can embed security in their systems and processes. Regarding endpoints, ensuring the integrity of the supply of devices from factory to user is crucial. Look for vendors that provide tools that enable the remote management of BIOS systems and can protect the device with hardware-enforced defences that secure the firmware itself. HP Sure Start, for instance, automatically detects a malware attack on the BIOS, notifies the user, securely logs the event for IT and restores the most recent good version of the BIOS or firmware. Also look for devices with sensors that detect when a device has been tampered with when in transit to the user. For example, HP TamperLock provides configurableprotection mechanisms against physical attacks on PC internals when an attacker opens the case.
Protect remote access. Given the outsized importance of remote access to transportation companies, this is a key element to get right. In addition to private access networks, CIOs should look for devices based on the zero-trust model. For instance, endpoints should ideally include virtualisation capabilities that ensure remote devices are isolated from the data and applications they access. HP Sure Access Enterprise, which is based on over ten years of innovation and collaboration with leading CPU manufacturers, is a case in point: a solution that enables a PC with standard hardware to be used for both privileged and non-privileged user activity.
1 TechTarget, “Top 14 ransomware targets in 2023 and beyond,” https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/feature/Top-10-ransomware-targets-in-2021-and-beyond2 Ibid3 McKinsey & Company, “Companies have a range of options for improving resilience,” 2020 https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/risk-resilience-and-rebalancing-in-global-value-chains4 Norton, “Q&A: Is it safe to connect to airplane Wi-Fi while traveling?” June 2022 https://us.norton.com/blog/wifi/is-it-safe-to-connect-to-airplane-wifi#5 Security Week, “Passengers Exposed to Hacking via Vulnerabilities in Airplane Wi-Fi Devices,” September 2022 https://www.securityweek.com/passengers-exposed-hacking-vulnerabilities-airplane-wi-fi-devices/
