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Tony Summerville

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Mar 9, 2018

2 minute read

Fleet Management Blog

Cybersecurity: Mitigating Risks for Fleet Security

If you understand the security risks that come with connected fleet vehicles, it’s now important to reduce the risks to protect your business. The biggest principle to keep in mind is that security should never be static. You must constantly be adapting to new risks.

vehicle-dashboard

When it comes to mitigating risk and developing more secure processes, consider adopting the following procedures:


Control physical access to vehicles

Your vehicles hold valuable company data that can wreak havoc when in the wrong hands. It’s important to maintain control over who has access to your vehicles including proximity to the vehicles when unattended.

Consistently update software

It’s tempting to put off or avoid software updates, but it’s important to keep up with them when it comes to maintaining security.

Often times, these updates correct for discovered security holes in the device or software. Devices that are not updated leave the fleet more vulnerable to attack.

Train employees

When it comes to security, creating safer, more cautionary procedures are only half the battle.

Once you have established procedures to ensure greater security, you should provide periodic trainings for employees to make sure they know what is expected of them.

Offer additional trainings to educate employees on other precautionary tasks they should take such as not downloading software from unverified third parties or clicking on email links from an unknown source.


Pre-purchase research

When considering a new device purchase, security is typically not at the forefront of our minds. Instead, it’s assumed that the company is already taking all the necessary precautions to protect its products. But this is not always true.

In fact, when it comes to electronic logging devices (ELDs), experts are concerned about the potential for data breaches. There are no FMCSA regulations concerning the cybersecurity of these devices at the moment.

Fleet managers are purchasing ELDs to meet the mandate deadline without considering the possibility of opening up their fleet vehicles and company to attack.

It’s best to make no assumptions about the cybersecurity of a device before purchasing. Investigate the device and the company’s commitment to security first.

Keep a cautious mindset

It’s risky to assume your company or fleet is not a target for a security threat.

Any company should develop procedures based on the belief it is a target and that attackers have access to valuable information such as internal systems or code of devices.


As you add technological complexity to your fleet vehicles, especially with the rise of connected vehicles, understand that you are increasing the risk of a security breach.

There are countless methods through which attackers can gain access to your vehicle systems and thus your business systems.

When it comes to security and managing fleet risks, it’s best to be proactive, not reactive.

This article was originally published in ThreatAdvice Cybersecurity Journal.


Cybersecurity is a top priority for our fleet maintenance software. See for yourself with a free 14-day trial of Fleetio.

About the Author


Tony Summerville

Tony Summerville

CEO/Founder

Tony is the CEO and founder of Fleetio and a passionate thought leader who lives at the intersection of transportation and technology. As a competitive swimmer growing up, he was once ranked 5th in the nation for his age group.

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