Ransomware is coming for American carriers — and most fleets aren't ready.

In 2024 the trucking and logistics sector overtook healthcare as the second most-targeted industry for ransomware in North America. The reason is simple: carriers run a 24/7 operation on thin margins, with dispatch, ELDs, fuel cards and TMS all stitched together by email. One hour of downtime is unsurvivable — so the ransom gets paid.

How the attack actually unfolds

It almost never starts with a hacker in a hoodie. It starts with a dispatcher clicking a fake load confirmation, or a recruiter opening a 'driver resume' PDF. From there the attackers move laterally for 9–14 days, exfiltrate your rate confirmations and customer list, and only then encrypt your TMS on a Friday afternoon.

The 5 controls that stop 95% of incidents

• ★MFA on email, TMS, fuel cards and load boards — not just email.
• ★Endpoint detection (EDR) on every dispatcher and back-office machine.
• ★Immutable, off-network backups of TMS, accounting and rate cons.
• ★Phishing simulations for dispatch and recruiting every 30 days.
• ★An incident response retainer with a 1-hour SLA — before you need it.

If your TMS goes down at 4pm on a Friday, you are not paying $40k. You are paying whatever they ask. Plan for it now, not then.

What it costs to be unprepared

Average ransom paid by a mid-size US carrier in 2025: $312,000. Average operational downtime: 6.4 days. Average customer attrition after a breach disclosure: 18%. Your insurance will cover a fraction of that, and only if you can prove you had reasonable controls in place.

We built our cybersecurity offering with We-Secure specifically because nobody else in this space speaks trucking. Start with a free exposure check — we will tell you exactly what an attacker sees today, before they do.