INDUSTRY FACT FILE · LOGISTICS, WAREHOUSING & SUPPLY CHAINS

Threat Landscape: Top Cyber Threats Facing Logistics, Warehousing and Supply Chains

The 18 most relevant cyber threats, attacks and industry challenges for 3PLs, couriers, forwarders, fleets, warehouses and supply-chain platforms, and the impact each one has on operations, customers and partners.

Logistics companies attract ransomware groups because stopped cargo creates immediate, measurable pressure—demurrage, spoilage, missed cut-offs and angry shippers—which makes victims more likely to pay. They attract fraudsters because freight is paid by invoice between parties who rarely meet, which makes business email compromise easy. And they attract data brokers and criminals because shipment data is both personal (consignees' names, phones and addresses) and operational (what is in the truck and where it will stop). The attack surface is unusually open: partner APIs, EDI, customer portals, telematics platforms and SaaS providers connect hundreds of organisations to the same systems.

Landmark incidents show the pattern. Maersk (2017) lost its network to NotPetya and US$250–300 million; Hellmann (2021) had data leaked and warned customers of payment-change fraud; Expeditors (2022) shut down global systems and absorbed tens of millions in demurrage and recovery costs; Blue Yonder (2024) showed how one SaaS provider's incident reaches many customers' warehouses; KNP Logistics (2025) collapsed after a single guessed password. Verizon's 2025 DBIR found third-party involvement in 30% of breaches and ransomware in 44%—both ratios that describe logistics well.

The list below is a practical assessment framework, not a statistical ranking. Priority varies by business model, technology exposure and existing controls.

The matrix is a qualitative guide for prioritising the first round of security reviews.

Figure 5: Qualitative threat relevance by logistics segment (Codec Networks assessment).

4.1 Ransomware and the platform dependency

A forwarder, 3PL or courier can lose every hub, filing and delivery at once when TMS, WMS or freight systems are encrypted—as Maersk, Expeditors and Hellmann experienced. Cargo keeps arriving while systems are down, so costs accrue by the hour.

• Questions to test: Which operations depend on which platforms? Can we file, receive, pick and dispatch manually for a week? Are backups immutable and restores tested? Would EDR and the SOC catch privilege escalation before encryption?
• Relevant services: dependency mapping, segmentation, backup and restore testing, EDR validation, crisis exercises.

4.2 Business email compromise in an invoice-driven industry

Freight is paid by invoice between parties who communicate by email. Attackers compromise a mailbox, learn the rhythm of invoicing and insert a changed bank account or a fake invoice; Hellmann warned customers of exactly this after its breach.

• Questions to test: Is MFA enforced on every mailbox? Are forwarding rules and unusual logins monitored? Do finance teams verify bank-detail changes by call-back? Have we tested staff with BEC simulations?
• Relevant services: MFA and conditional access, mailbox monitoring, payment verification procedures, BEC simulation and training, incident investigation.

4.3 Partner APIs, EDI and consignee data

Couriers and platforms issue thousands of API keys to merchants, carriers and integrators. One key embedded in a public website or a sequential tracking number can expose millions of consignees' names, phones and addresses, which then fuel fake delivery-fee and OTP scams.

• Questions to test: Who holds keys to our APIs and with what scope? Are identifiers guessable? Are rate limits and enumeration defences in place? Would we detect bulk retrieval of shipment data?
• Relevant services: partner API and portal testing, key scoping and rotation, rate limiting, API monitoring, DPDP data minimisation.

4.4 Fleet telematics and warehouse automation

Telematics platforms reveal where high-value cargo is and can sometimes immobilise vehicles; warehouse sorters and AS/RS are PLC-controlled systems maintained by vendors with standing access. Both are OT problems arriving in a sector that has treated them as IT conveniences.

• Questions to test: Who can log in to our telematics platform and send commands? Is load and route data minimised? Are WMS and automation segmented from office IT? Is vendor access brokered, time-bound and recorded?
• Relevant services: fleet and IoT security assessment, platform access controls, warehouse OT assessment, zone-and-conduit segmentation, vendor access brokering, OT monitoring.

4.5 Supply-chain SaaS and the 6-hour clock

When a shared TMS, WMS or visibility platform is breached, many operators and their shippers are affected at once—Blue Yonder's 2024 incident reached warehouses and store scheduling on two continents. CERT-In still expects each affected entity to report within six hours and to have logs for investigation.

• Questions to test: Which SaaS providers could stop our operations? Have we assessed them and agreed notification duties? Do we monitor our own tenants and integrations? Is there a playbook covering manual operation, CERT-In reporting and shipper communication?
• Relevant services: supply-chain SaaS and vendor risk programme, contract clauses, tenant and integration monitoring, incident playbooks and reporting support.

• CERT-In: incidents reported within six hours of noticing them; logs available for investigation.
• SEBI LODR: listed logistics companies disclose cyber incidents and data loss in the quarterly corporate governance report.
• NCIIPC: incidents affecting notified transport systems require coordination.
• DPDP: incidents involving consignee, driver or employee personal data trigger breach intimation once provisions commence in May 2027.
• Customs and GST authorities: misuse of ICEGATE or e-way bill credentials attracts penalties and investigation.
• Shippers and insurers: contracts require incident notification and evidence of warranted controls; cargo and cyber insurers scrutinise telematics and backup controls.

• If our TMS, WMS and freight systems went dark tonight, could cargo move tomorrow—and for how long?
• Which SaaS provider, merchant or vendor could stop our operations or leak our data, and have we assessed them?
• Would our finance team pay an invoice to a changed bank account without a call-back?
• Who can log in to our telematics platform, and what commands can they send?
• Are our sorters, AS/RS and WMS segmented from office IT and from vendors?
• Could we detect, contain and report an incident within six hours while keeping hubs and deliveries running?

Note: Threat descriptions and relevance ratings are general guidance, not findings about any specific organisation. Public incident references are summarised from widely reported events and company disclosures.