Cybercrime is a global issue plaguing nearly every industry. Bad actors are growing more sophisticated by the day, and it takes talented security teams to keep up.
Freight 360’s podcast team sat down with Jeff Hopper, DAT’s Chief Marketing Officer, to discuss the global rise in cybercrime, what’s behind it, what can be done, and how this issue is resolved. Listen to their talk here.
The state of fraud
Fraud and cybercrime took a dramatic tick upward 12-14 months ago. Behind it, Hopper says, is a soft market that became ripe for cybercrime from predominantly outside the U.S.
“You usually see a little bit of cybercrime active when rates go down,” Hopper said. “Fraudsters have been using various kinds of capabilities – phishing, smishing, etc. – to gain access to all kinds of accounts.”
Cybercriminals don’t stop at phishing or smishing (the SMS text equivalent). Ransomware attacks are verging on commonplace. Hopper mentioned that his colleagues at other logistics companies treat ransomware attacks as a question of “when” and not “if.”
Fraud in logistics
Transportation and logistics is a hot market for fraudsters for a simple reason: it’s lucrative when they’re successful.
Primarily, cybercriminals steal or take over user credentials, impersonate legitimate players in the industry, then take the money owed to the legitimate carrier, broker, or shipper. This happens with all types of loads, and none are spared: trucks of iPhones, pistachios, energy drinks – you name it.
“We see criminals use bots to get MC numbers and act with that authority,” said Hopper. “The whole industry has to tighten up how we do business. Identity verification should be the primary thing everyone is focused on.”
DAT’s plan of action
“Our company is 45 years old. We’ve been in the network and loadboard business for a long time, and to some extent, this isn’t new to us,” Hopper noted. “We’ve removed over 7,000 bad actors from our network since last year.”
At DAT, we’re taking proactive steps to protect against cyber threats via:
- Implementing stronger password criteria
- Round-the-clock third-party security monitoring and testing
- Enabling two-factor authentication
- Creating a fraud protection resource library and a live dashboard, where you can check for alerts
- Enhanced network participant vetting processes
- Maintaining a 100% response rate to reports
How everyone can fight bad actors
- Study DAT’s resources – Knowledge is power. Familiarize yourself with the latest news and updates about fraud in logistics with DAT’s library of fraud protection resources.
- Report bad actors – Have you encountered fraudulent actors in your network? Don’t let them get by – report them to us so we can ensure other users won’t encounter them and they are removed from DAT’s ecosystem. We maintain a 100% response rate to these reports. Additionally, if you become the victim of a cyber crime, immediately report it to IC3.gov.
- Don’t hesitate to ask questions – As always, DAT is here to help. If you’d like to speak to our compliance department, please call 800-547-5417 or email us at compliance@dat.com.
