Rand McNally: ‘Cyber incident’ causes problems with ELDs

As of the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 25, truck drivers using Rand McNally ELDs were continuing to experience problems with the devices related to a “cyber incident.”

Stan Oswald, an OOIDA senior member from Montana, said he started to have problems with the device last week.

“I had a problem with the unit. I talked to them and went through it last Thursday and thought that everything had been corrected and was OK,” he said. “Then I tried to download the log on Saturday, and it wouldn’t download. I tried again Monday, and it still wouldn’t work. When I tried to reach them, it would say that the customer wasn’t available at this number.”

Although Oswald’s issue with the device last Thursday may have been unrelated, the OOIDA member has not been alone as far as having problems with his Rand McNally ELD in recent days. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has fielded several calls this week from members reporting problems with their Rand McNally ELD. Adam Kleinschmidt of OOIDA’s Business Services Department told Land Line Now that the department has received calls from members saying they’ve been unable to certify logs or access record-of-duty-status.

Rand McNally responded to requests for comment from Land Line on Wednesday afternoon.

“In an effort to be as transparent with you as we are with our customers, we are making you aware of a cyber incident that is affecting Rand McNally’s hosted and network systems,” a spokesperson for Rand McNally wrote. “As a result, the network that supports our DriverConnect ELD platform is not working. As per FMCSA rules, we are instructing fleets and drivers to use paper-based logging until we can restore our systems. We assure you that we are focusing our resources on restoring the functionality of our network to resume delivery of our full range of services.”

Rand McNally’s website had been down Tuesday but was running with limited functionality on Wednesday morning.

The company sent a notice to its customers on Tuesday.

“As you may be aware, Rand McNally recently discovered a disruption to certain portions of our computer and phone network,” the company stated. “We commenced an immediate investigation that included taking certain systems offline and are working with specialists to determine the nature and the scope of the event. We are working diligently to restore the functionality of our systems to minimize downtime, particularly for regulated and essential industry sectors.

“The investigation is ongoing, but to date we have no indication that Rand McNally customer data is affected.”

The solution for truck drivers using a Rand McNally ELD, for now, is to go old school.

“The first thing you need to do is construct some sort of letter to your carrier, even if it’s you, just documenting that there is an ELD malfunction, what the ELD malfunction was, and from that moment, you have eight days. Before you can get that fixed, you can run paper logs,” Kleinschmidt said.

“If it’s gonna take longer than that eight days to fix, you can file for an extension through FMCSA, and the way that you do that is essentially the same thing you’re putting in that letter of what it is, and you’re going to send that letter to FMCSA. They’ll make a determination. You want to start working on doing that as quickly as possible, just in case.”

The FMCSA’s ELD support page can be found here. Truckers can also get help filing an extension by filling out the form here.

Oswald said he already filed an extension, because he needs to be able to access his logs.

“If you can’t download your log or access the log, then it’s not working,” Oswald said.

Rand McNally recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and then was acquired by Teleo Capital Management earlier this month.

“Rand McNally is a leader in the fleet management software market,” Teleo wrote in a Nov. 10 news release. “Its cloud-based telematics platform helps fleets manage increasing regulatory compliance requirements and improves profitability through advanced driver and vehicle analytics. We see significant future expansion opportunities through both organic and inorganic growth initiatives. We are extremely excited to support Rand McNally through this next stage of growth.” LL