Cybersecurity threats pose a large risk on the trucking industry and this is what some of the biggest voices in the fight for cybersecurity are saying.
“I think that the APTs, the Advanced Persistent Threats, will become more stealthy, harder to detect,” U.S. Secret Service Agent Clarke Skoby said Oct. 24. “I also think that criminals will learn to use AI to further their criminal endeavors. AI is a disruptive technology; it’s going to make our lives easier, write speeches for us, things like that. But also, it’s a two-edged sword where criminals are going to use AI.”
Skoby goes on to outline his fears surrounding the use of cryptocurrency and its high likelihood for fraud. He has said that the use of AI to detect malware on their systems can be a strong tool.
“My prediction is that it’s going to just continue to get more sophisticated,” said Takeda Parker-Bradford, a compliance administrator at the Transportation Security Administration.
“Some of the tactics that we see constantly, like phishing, we’ve discussed the ways that we were able to defend against them before, teach our people to defend against them before, may not be as apparent as it used to be. It’s going to get more and more complex.”
“Those type of signature-based things may now be more difficult to detect utilizing scanners and machine-learning devices,” Parker-Bradford added. “I think there’s going to be more of an emphasis from an attack perspective to pollute some of the technologies that we have as far as our defenses. So, I don’t know how we guard against that at this point. But I think that’s something that we should definitely have on our radar.”
The National Motor Freight Traffic Association hosted the discussion as part of its Digital Solutions Conference where they touched on cybersecurity.
“With regard to the tactics around social engineering, obviously with AI and making them more realistic, and then also just with the evolving privacy regulations, I think we’re going to continue to see that evolve, especially with AI and what that looks like,” said Shelly Thomas, senior vice president at risk management firm Marsh. “I don’t think anyone really knows exactly what that looks like, but just in regard to copyright infringements, I think we may see more around that with regards to AI.”
“My focus being mainly on assets that roll the trucks, I think that we need a way to segment telematics devices from vehicle networks, especially on older trucks,” said Ben Gardiner, senior cybersecurity research engineer contractor at NMFTA. “But short of that, I think fleets need to have contractual guarantees for cybersecurity in the telematics devices that they purchase so that they know that the telematics devices that they’re installing are secure. The third one is, obviously, awareness training.”
