Trade group offers cybersecurity advice for owner-operators

February 6, 2025

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Cybersecurity will be “one of the most pressing challenges” facing the trucking industry, according to a recent report by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association.

In January, the Alexandria, Va.-based group released its 2025 Trucking Cyber Security Trends Report, which outlines what NMFTA describes as “the critical cybersecurity developments that trucking professionals must be prepared to address in the year ahead.”

One of those trends is the evolution of phishing scams. According to the group, 2025 will “see significant increases in the efficiencies and accuracy” of phishing attempts by bad actors.

Ben Wilkens, cybersecurity principal engineer with NMFTA, recently joined Land Line Media to discuss the 2025 report. When it comes to phishing scams, Wilkens said the advent and evolution of large language models – like ChatGPT – have helped to increase the success of scammers.

In the past, phishing attempts were often poorly worded emails full of unbelievable claims, making them easier to detect. Wilkens said with the use of artificial intelligence, “those tells are gone” – which makes it harder to decipher the real from the fake.

“What we’re seeing is these tools allow a foreign language native speaker – no knowledge of transportation or trucking, or a rudimentary knowledge at best – to craft a grammatically correct, perfectly worded, believable email that’s relevant to someone in the transportation industry,” Wilkens said. “They use the right slang. They know about the terms … that a normal threat actor wouldn’t have thought of.”

In addition to its annual cybersecurity trends report, NMFTA recently released a Best Practices Guidebook for Owner-Operators and Small Fleets. In it, the group points to five cybersecurity fundamentals that all truckers should be following, including:

Keep software and operating systems updated
Back up important files
Use strong, unique passwords
Require passwords on all devices
Require multi-factor authentication

“As an owner-operator, personal cybersecurity and online cyber hygiene go hand-in-hand with business cybersecurity,” NMFTA said in its report. “It is important to take steps to safeguard personal identity and credit to ensure continuity of operations and scalability of business.”

For those looking for more information on ways to protect their businesses from cyber threats, the group will be hosting a webinar on practical cybersecurity for owner-operators on Feb. 13. You can register for the event online here. LL