Any trucker who works as an employee of a larger organization will likely be able to benefit from that group’s experiences. They might receive special training or other considerations that make it easy for them to tackle cybersecurity-related issues. Independent drivers have to handle all of these potential issues on their own, which can turn otherwise simple things into challenging problems.

Professional truckers who find themselves in this situation are encouraged to take advantage of the same conventional wisdom that they’ve likely heard on numerous occasions. Nobody should ever share their electronic logging credentials with other drivers or customers. Passwords for these services should be changed whenever there’s some risk that they might have been exposed.

Old Wisdom Reimagined By Independent Truckers

Living a high-stress life out on the highways leaves little time for this kind of digital maintenance, so some truckers have created special password hygiene schedules to help them keep up. Those who can’t get the time to do this may find that their contractors are more willing to give it to them once they explain that installing updates and setting good passwords can help to protect cargo shipments since these could theoretically get rerouted by bad actors who gained control of a couple trucking accounts.

Those who have a sleeper cab could even retire to their in-truck room one night and set aside a little time to install browser updates and scan their digital tools for malware. Working with an organization that has built a secure supply chain is another way that these same drivers can protect themselves as well as their cargo. Communications networks have always been weak points when it comes to security, and this is especially true of the mobile ones that truckers rely on. Getting the backing of an outside group can go a long way to reducing risks associated with this facet of doing business online.

Staying On Top of New Developments

Even drivers who already enjoy the backing of professional cybersecurity analysts will want to at least learn a bit more about the new threats they face as well as creative ways to deal with them. Blockchain-based solutions have been proposed as a way to ensure that all logging data is correct and immutable from the time it’s entered into a computer. Drivers who have the option to use these could look over some documentation before they invest too much time into learning how to work with one.

Quantum computing equipment is quickly becoming one of the biggest existential threats to the logistics industry. While these devices are seldom used outside of dedicated research institutes, they could theoretically crack passwords at an alarming rate. Ironically, protecting against these new attacks may not involve much more than flipping a few special browser switches. Drivers who do their best to make at least a little time to read up on these issues and act accordingly will be in a much better position to prevent any future attacks against their digital footprint, and their cargo shipments.