By now there will be no corner of the logistics industry that has not heard of, and been shocked by the news of the demise of KNP Logistics due primarily to a ransomware attack on their IT systems. Reports in the press indicate that the attack affected processes, systems and financial information; i.e.: all the important management aspects of the business. All of which begs the question: if a long-established company the size of KNP can be brought low by a ransomeware attack, how can other transport and freight operators avoid the same fate?
Well, attacks of this sort are most to be feared when a company is using ‘installed’ IT systems, by which we mean systems that have been bought and installed on a company’s own servers, which it then has to protect from hackers and other bad actors. Basically, that is a tough ask for any operator large or small, as we have just found out. In effect, they must maintain expensive IT departments and hardware and ensure security is up to date at all times - and if KNP could not maintain tight enough cyber security, what chance do other (whether smaller or larger) operators have?
So, what’s the best option for freight operators? The best option is to ensure that their key systems, including their TMSs, are protected by the highest levels of security possible. The best way of doing that is for an operator to employ a SaaS-based* TMS, so that security issues become the responsibility of the TMS service provider for whom it’s there core business, and who can employ specific techniques to protect the most sensitive of information from anyone who has not been granted secure access; information held in this way can also be compartmentalised and ring-fenced as required, thus ensuring the whole of a company’s information systems are not at risk from attack at once. There are many more reasons why a cloud-based TMS is far superior to a locally installed one and the best person to explain why is our own Bashir Khan, who can be contacted here.
*SaaS is the acronym for ‘Software as a Service’. Essentially, it is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It’s actually a software rental model, sometimes referred to as “on-demand software”. Deltion’s own award-winning CarrierNet was the first internet-based logistics solution and has been recognised internationally as the leading web-based application for supply chain, logistics and transport management.
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