By Jennifer Chang      Photo：Mateusz Dach 

Global supply chains face severe disruptions due to volatility in commodity supply since the COVID-19. Demand for everything from food to electronics remains high as we slowly emerge from the pandemic . With the situation so volatile, a cybersecurity crisis for any one logistics and shipping company could have a catastrophic impact on the global consumer economy. These companies operate air, land and ocean freight transport on several continents, and are responsible for moving billions of dollars worth of goods around the world. This may be why it has attracted the interest of cybercriminals.

What is cybercrime? The UK Institute for Risk Management defines cybercrime as "the risk of any organisation suffering financial loss, disruption or damage to its reputation as a result of some failure of its information technology systems". The range of risks associated with cybercrime is very broad, and risks arising from failure of information technology systems can take many forms, such as phishing, spear phishing, malware, payment authorization fraud or ransomware.  So far, these cyber-attacks have also been conducted through social media (mainly LinkedIn, but also WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger), using social engineering methods of email and personal messages, resulting in the following consequences: software; collect information about users, their employers, or other users associated with them; and spread the action further. A number of internet-related incidents have been reported over the past few years, some of which are high profile cases involving the logistics and freight forwarding industries. Since the current business relies heavily on the information technology system, once the information technology system is interrupted or suspended, or the customer and transportation database is damaged, the operation of the transportation business and the relationship with customers, carriers and freight forwarders will be seriously affected. This in turn results in monetary loss and potential legal liability.

As the frequency of cyber attacks increases year by year, finding new methods and technologies to reduce losses, improve efficiency, and increase digital governance and compliance is an issue that the international logistics industry must face up to when joining this wave of information security mainstream markets. Cyber security has become the standard of competitiveness!  The illegal benefits that cyber security attacks can obtain are getting higher and higher, which increases the risk of enterprises being attacked. As an important partner of the global supply chain, information security cannot be taken lightly. Not clicking on unsafe websites, downloading files and software at will, or not clicking on unsolicited emails and their attachments are high-risk behaviors and even USB is a major medium for computer viruses.  Regardless of the size of the transportation and logistics industry, they should hold the mentality of "may encounter hacker attacks" and make appropriate investment in information security, so as not to become a fat sheep in the eyes of hackers in vain. With the emphasis on information security issues, having a strong information security environment is also a necessary condition to win and build customer trust

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