Trucking Giant Says Ransomware Attack Had $7.5M Impact

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week, North American trucking and freight transportation logistics giant Forward Air Corporation said a December 2020 ransomware attack had an impact on its fourth quarter financial results.

For three decades, the Greeneville, Tennessee-based company has been providing ground transportation and related logistics services to the air freight and expedited less than load (LTL) market in North America.

In a December 2020 filing with SEC, the company revealed that a ransomware incident affected its operational and information technology systems, causing service delays.

The company was able to quickly contain the incident, after which it launched an investigation into it and also informed the appropriate authorities.

Recovery operations lasted for at least a couple of weeks, and the company said at the time that the incident was expected to cause loss of revenue, due to continuous delays in the company’s business.

In an 8-K form filed with SEC this week, the transportation giant revealed that the ransomware attack indeed had a financial impact.

“While the Company’s systems recovery efforts are completed and the Company’s operations are fully functional, the incident did result in a loss of revenue as well as incremental costs for the month of December which will adversely impact the Company’s fourth quarter 2020 results,” Forward Air said.

Overall, the incident is expected to result in the loss of an estimated $7.5 million of LTL revenue, mainly because it had to suspend “electronic data interfaces with its customers,” the transportation company says.

While Forward Air did not provide information on the ransomware family responsible for the attack, FreightWaves reported that the Hades ransomware gang was behind the incident.

SecurityWeek has contacted Forward Air for additional details on the incident and the attackers’ demands and will update the article if a response arrives.

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