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.