The transportation industry depends on interconnected technologies, real-time data, and complex partner ecosystems to keep goods and services moving. As these systems become increasingly digital, cyber incidents can create consequences that extend well beyond system recovery.
For carriers, these events can translate into increasingly complex claims scenarios involving policyholders across the transportation sector. Depending on the incident, their clients may face business interruption, cargo disputes, regulatory obligations, liability allegations, and other operational challenges that can lead to claims activity and extended recovery efforts.
According to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, the average cost of a data breach in the transport industry reached $3.98 million, underscoring the significant financial impact cyber incidents can have across the sector.
While ransomware and data breaches often dominate headlines, a broader range of cyber risks are creating new exposures for transportation organizations and the insurers that support them.
Understanding these evolving risks can help carriers better anticipate claims trends and support policyholders before, during and after an event.
1. Operational Technology (OT) and Connected Asset Attacks
Transportation operations increasingly rely on connected vehicles, telematics platforms, GPS systems, operational technology, and automated infrastructure. As IT and OT environments become more integrated, cybercriminals have more opportunities to affect physical operations through digital attacks.
What's at Stake
Threat actors may exploit telematics systems, manipulate GPS signals, interfere with connected infrastructure, or compromise operational technologies that support fleet management and transportation operations.
Implications and Considerations for Carriers
Cyber incidents involving operational technology can blur the line between cyber, cargo, property, and liability exposures. A single event may generate multiple claims arising from service interruptions, delayed deliveries, cargo damage, spoilage, or alleged failures of operational controls. For carriers, these incidents may require careful evaluation of causation, coverage triggers, business interruption impacts, and potential third-party liability allegations.
Actions to Consider:
- Evaluate whether policyholders have tested OT-specific incident response and business continuity plans.
- Understand how insureds manage connected assets, telematics, and operational technology environments.
- Consider how business interruption and cargo exposures may interact following an operational disruption.
2. Supply Chain and Third-Party Technology Failures
Transportation organizations rely heavily on third-party software providers, logistics platforms, cloud services, and data-sharing environments to coordinate operations and track shipments.
What's at Stake
A compromised vendor, software provider, or transportation platform can disrupt multiple organizations simultaneously and introduce risk throughout the supply chain.
Implications and Considerations for Carriers
Third-party incidents often introduce questions regarding responsibility and allocation of loss. Carriers may need to assess whether losses stemmed from the insured, a technology provider, a logistics partner, or a combination of parties. Claims involving contingent business interruption, service-level agreements, and contractual obligations can become particularly complex when the same event impacts multiple organizations.
Actions to Consider:
- Encourage insureds to assess the cyber controls of critical vendors and technology partners.
- Understand key third-party dependencies and operational concentrations.
- Evaluate how vendor outages could affect business interruption and service continuity exposures.
3. Ransomware and Operational Shutdowns
Ransomware remains one of the most disruptive cyber threats facing transportation organizations. Attackers target operational systems critical to dispatching, routing, scheduling, and logistics management.
What's at Stake
Many ransomware groups now combine encryption with data theft, creating both operational and privacy-related exposures.
Implications and Considerations for Carriers
Ransomware events frequently generate significant first- and third-party losses. In addition to business interruption and recovery expenses, carriers may encounter claims involving delayed shipments, contractual penalties, customer disputes and regulatory obligations. Extended outages can also increase the complexity of claim investigations as organizations seek to quantify operational and financial impacts over time.
Actions to Consider:
- Review insureds' backup, recovery and incident response capabilities.
- Understand how operational downtime could impact customer obligations and contractual commitments.
- Examine the potential for downstream claims extending beyond the cyber event itself.
4. AI-Enabled Cargo Diversion and Social Engineering Fraud
Cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to create sophisticated phishing campaigns, impersonation schemes, and fraudulent communications.
What's at Stake
Attackers may impersonate customers, brokers, carriers, or logistics personnel to redirect shipments, alter payment instructions, or facilitate cargo theft.
Implications and Considerations for Carriers
AI-driven fraud schemes can create challenging claims scenarios because the event may involve both cyber deception and physical loss. Carriers may be required to evaluate issues such as cargo ownership, shipment liability, recovery efforts, and potential fraud-related exclusions. As AI-enabled impersonation tactics become more sophisticated, establishing the sequence of events and cause of loss may become increasingly important during the claims process.
Actions to Consider:
- Encourage insureds to implement secondary verification procedures for shipment changes and payment requests.
- Assess controls around high-value cargo movements and routing changes.
- Monitor emerging AI-enabled fraud trends that may affect transportation clients.
5. Cyber Events Creating Multi-Line Claims Exposures
Modern transportation cyber incidents rarely remain isolated from technology events. A single breach can affect multiple business functions simultaneously.
What's at Stake
Organizations may experience operational disruption, business interruption, privacy concerns, cargo impacts, contractual disputes, and reputational challenges stemming from a single cyber event.
Implications and Considerations for Carriers
Cyber events in the transportation sector increasingly extend beyond a single line of coverage. A single incident may trigger cyber, cargo, liability, property, and business interruption considerations simultaneously. For carriers, these events can require coordination across multiple stakeholders, detailed coverage analysis, evaluation of overlapping losses, and careful claims management throughout the recovery process.
Actions to Consider:
- Prepare for incidents that involve multiple coverages and stakeholders.
- Establish clear processes for evaluating causation and allocation of loss.
- Work closely with claims, risk, and recovery specialists when complex cyber-related events occur.
How Gallagher Bassett Can Help
Gallagher Bassett helps carriers navigate the complex claims of environments that can emerge following transportation-related cyber events. Drawing expertise in cyber claims, business interruption, liability management, and recovery support, we help clients assess impacts, coordinate responses, and manage claims throughout the recovery process.
By understanding how cyber incidents translate into real-world claims outcomes, carriers can be better positioned to support policyholders and respond effectively when events occur.
Learn more about Gallagher Bassett's cyber capabilities, claims expertise, and recovery solutions:
Authors
Christa Johnson
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