Freight industry faces rising cybersecurity and cargo theft threats

The freight and logistics industry faces escalating security challenges from both digital and physical threats. Cybersecurity risks for freight forwarders are shifting, with business email compromise (BEC) and rate manipulation via phishing becoming more prevalent than traditional ransomware. These attacks exploit the movement of customer prepayments, carrier disbursements, and sensitive shipment data. Key defenses include multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all operational systems, DMARC/SPF/DKIM alignment, and immutable backups.

Simultaneously, physical cargo theft is rising sharply. According to Verisk CargoNet, reported cargo theft losses reached $725 million in 2025, with strategic theft increasing by 1,475% between 2022 and 2024. Experts suggest that traditional carrier vetting is insufficient because it fails to address the moment of custody transfer at docks. Sophisticated methods, such as the ‘Trojan Driver Scam,’ involve criminals embedding members within legitimate carriers to bypass existing compliance processes during pickups.