As ransomware attacks hit trucking, victims face costly dilemma

As ransomware attacks hit trucking, victims face costly dilemma

TFI International, one of the largest trucking and logistics providers in North America, recently refused to pay after a ransomware gang called DoppelPaymer targeted its parcel carriers in Canada, including Canpar Express in April.

Montreal-based TFI has disclosed little about the attack, but according to its third-quarter financial results, the breach cost its parcel and courier business segment CA$8 million ($6 million) in revenue and CA$3 million in operating income. Some of that cost included extra labour to manually sort packages and envelopes.

All told, if TFI’s parcel carriers had been a stand-alone company, the toll would have amounted to about 10 percent of the revenue and 5 percent of its profits for the quarter.

But according to Brett Callow, a threat analyst with cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, TFI did the right thing by its apparent decision not to pay the attackers.

“As long as companies keep paying, there will be ransomware attacks,” said Callow.

For more information visit www.emsisoft.com/en/

11th January 2021