FIATA issues cybercrime guidance to members

The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) has issued guidance for its members on protecting themselves against cybercrimes.

The Best Practice Guide on Prevention of Cybercrime, a 10-page document prepared by their Advisory Body on Legal Matters (ABLM), details the issues relating to cyber-attacks for those involved in freight forwarding.

“There have been many cyber-related incidents reported in the last 5 years, with a smaller number of very high profile cases within the logistics and freight forwarding sector,” FIATA says in the report, noting that most of them have not targeted specific companies.

“In June 2017, A.P. Moller Maersk became a victim of an untargeted global malware attack known as ‘NotPetya’. The impact on business activities was wide spread, impacting online cargo booking, general email correspondence and the ability to communicate with customers as well as operational challenges at as many as 76 port terminal operations globally.

“While Maersk was able to recover quickly from the attack, it was reported to have had a financial impact of several hundred million dollars.”

As businesses become more dependent on IT infrastructure, FIATA notes, they become more vulnerable to these attacks.

The guide shares the International Maritime Organization’s framework for risk assessment, following the steps of identifying personnel for risk management, implementing risk-control processes, improving detection, and implementing the ability to restore systems quickly, so that in the event of a cyber-attack companies are not as severely compromised as Maersk had been.

Source: FIATA