In 2024, transport organisations experienced an average of four nation-state incidents. Here’s how we’re helping the sector rise to the challenge.
The Critical Role of Cyber Security in Transport
The UK’s transport sector is at the heart of the nation’s physical infrastructure. However, several cyber attacks in recent memory – including a suspected ransomware attack against Northern Rail - have highlighted just how vulnerable these organisations are to attack.
- 48% of rail sector organisations consider managing cloud cyber security as their main security challenge.
- 48% of road sector respondents consider ‘data protection and protection of critical assets’ as their top challenge.
- Source: Cyber Security in Transport: 2024
Addressing Transport Organisation's Unique Cyber Security Challenges
Reliance on Operational Technology
Like many Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sectors, transport heavily relies on Operational Technology (OT). Securing these assets presents a different challenge compared to IT environments, and many organisations may lack the skills or experience to do so effectively.
Heightened Risk from New Technologies
As transport organisations deploy new technologies – ranging from asset tracking with IoT devices, augmented reality for maintenance assistance, drones, and more – they may introduce new vulnerabilities for threat actors to exploit.
NIS 2
Under the NIS 2 directive, the transport sector is considered a ‘sector of high criticality’ and organisations meeting the directive’s threshold for size are considered either ‘essential entities’ or ‘important entities’. This creates a number of new regulatory obligations for organisations.
Our Award Winning Cyber Security Services for Transport Organisations
We’ve supported many of the UK’s largest transport organisations in overcoming their cyber security challenges, including managing large-scale deployments of Microsoft Security solutions, building 24/7 detection and response capabilities, and achieving compliance with the CAF and ISO standards.
Download the 2024 Cyber Security in Transport Report
What are the Cyber Threats Faced by Transport Organisations in 2024?
The transport sector faces threats from a wide variety of actors, any of which could potentially cripple networks that millions of people and businesses depend upon.
Ransomware Groups and Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Groups
These financially-motivated cyber criminals often seek to extort money from transport organisations by holding their services to ransom.
Nation State Actors and Hacktivists
To achieve their political goals, nation state groups and hacktivists often seek to disrupt essential services within the transport sector.
Insider Threats
Malicious insiders also pose a risk, given their knowledge of and access to critical systems and data. Whether they choose to perpetrate an attack themselves or share their insight with an external actor, insider risk is a serious threat.
New Technologies
The transport sector’s dependence on a host of IT and OT systems presents a risk that an incident or system failure could result in severe disruption.
Hear from One of the UK's Largest Port Groups...
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"Working alongside key stakeholders within our client’s organisation, our Cloud Security and Data Privacy teams worked together to implement a solution that labelled data across Microsoft Exchange, OneDrive accounts, SharePoint sites, Microsoft Teams
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“Bridewell supported us throughout the entire ISO 27001 implementation and certification process and we’ve been extremely satisfied with the results. Their consultants were engaged and responsive from start to finish.
