431%—and no, that’s not inflation or fuel prices. It’s the increase in supply chain cyberattacks between 2021 and 2023. That’s right—more than quadrupled in just two years. As someone in logistics security, that number is hard to swallow. It shows that cybersecurity in logistics is no longer a distant concern, but a harsh reality.

Threat Landscape: Ransomware and Stolen Passwords Plague Logistics

In recent years, ransomware has become one of the logistics industry’s worst nightmares. In 2020 alone, the number of ransomware incidents rose by 700%, with transport and logistics firms being disproportionately targeted. Ransomware now accounts for about one in three data breaches—often involving multimillion-dollar ransoms and halted goods flows.

A notorious example is the NotPetya attack on Maersk in 2017, which crippled the company for weeks and caused an estimated $300 million in damage. Attacks like this painfully demonstrate that a single breach can disrupt an entire supply chain network.

But it’s not just malware; stolen login credentials pose a major threat as well. Many attacks begin with something as simple as a phishing email. The logistics sector—where countless emails and orders fly between parties daily—is particularly vulnerable to phishing. In fact, a large share of all phishing attacks targets logistics companies. Why? Because one weak link is enough. When a poorly secured supply chain partner is hacked, it can compromise the entire network.

In 2021, for example, a logistics company in the COVID vaccine supply chain was breached via a less secure supplier. A single compromised login at the wrong party put vaccine deliveries at risk.

Other well-known case studies often come up in security meetings. Take KNP Logistics in the UK. In June 2023, it fell victim to Akira ransomware. Attackers gained access through a weak password and the absence of multi-factor authentication. Result: operations halted, financial data encrypted, and three months later KNP was bankrupt. 700 employees out of work—a brutal example of how ransomware can be an existential threat.

Or look at the attack on DP World Australia in November 2023: five major seaports shut down for days, 30,000 containers stranded. No ransom in this case, but massive supply chain disruption. In another example, a September 2023 ransomware attack on ORBCOMM (a fleet management provider) paralyzed truck tracking, forcing drivers to revert to paper logbooks. These incidents show that digital attacks have direct physical consequences in logistics: delayed shipments, waiting customers, massive losses, and reputational damage.

Bottom line: the threat is real and growing. One in five transport and logistics companies now faces a cyber incident annually. Whether it's ransomware or leaked passwords, the reality is that it's only a matter of time—unless we defend smarter.

Why Traditional Security Falls Short

You’d think we’d have enough locks, gates, and alarms on our digital doors by now. Firewalls, antivirus, VPNs, IAM systems—the average company has an entire arsenal. Yet weekly news reports highlight successful breaches at well-protected organizations. How?

Because traditional security layers have blind spots. Attackers bypass perimeter defenses and can roam around the network unnoticed for months. On average, it still takes 10 days to detect a breach—often much longer if hackers stay quiet. During that “dwell time,” they can steal credentials, plant malware, and map your network at their leisure.

One major reason: alert fatigue. Intrusion detection systems and SIEMs generate massive amounts of alerts, only a fraction of which are serious. The rest is noise. Research shows over half of all security alerts are false positives. Your IT team is left searching for a needle in a haystack. And after enough false alarms, human attention fades—just when a real attack slips through.

Another issue: we’ve long focused on perimeter security. But today’s logistics IT environment isn’t a neat castle with one gate—it’s an open marketplace: cloud platforms, mobile scanners, warehouse IoT, API links with suppliers. No matter how solid the perimeter, something or someone always gets in. Classical security stops at the door—we need something inside to catch the thief once they're in.

Think of a department store with great locks but no floor security. Once someone’s inside, they can move freely. That’s where a honeypot comes in.

What Is a Honeypot (And What It Isn’t)?

Time to talk honeypots—also known as decoys or digital bait. A honeypot is a fake system designed to look like a tempting target to cyber attackers. Think: a vulnerable-looking server or database with seemingly valuable data, but in reality, completely isolated from your real production environment.

Example: we once deployed a decoy server named “Finance_DB_Archive” at a client site with a purposely weak password. Within two weeks, an attacker (initially inside via phishing) found it and thought, “Ah, a finance database—interesting!” They tried logging in… Bam, alert! Since that server had no legitimate purpose, we knew with 100% certainty: this was malicious. We watched live as they executed commands—while our real database remained untouched.

Honeypots don’t block attacks like firewalls or antivirus. Instead, they trade surprise for visibility. Normally, you discover a breach too late. With a honeypot, you get alerted before real damage happens. Instead of weeks unnoticed, you know within seconds that someone is poking around.

Let’s debunk a few myths:

• “A honeypot is hard and expensive to set up.” Not true. Modern honeypot software is simple to deploy—sometimes within an hour. There are agentless, software-only honeypots you can set up in minutes. No rocket science needed—if you can deploy a VM, you can deploy a honeypot.
• “Only big companies with SOC teams can benefit.” Wrong! Small IT teams benefit even more. Honeypots only alert on truly malicious behavior—0% false positives. That means less work, not more. No need to sift through thousands of alerts—one honeypot alert = high priority. And you can scale over time.
• “Experienced hackers will spot it right away.” Sometimes yes—but too late. By the time they realize, your alarm has already triggered. Some will retreat, others stay to investigate—either way, you collect valuable intel. Bonus: wasting a hacker’s time with fake systems gives us some well-earned schadenfreude.

Concrete Honeypot Benefits for Logistics

What’s the concrete value for a logistics firm?

• Lightning-fast detection: Honeypots reduce the “invisible” phase of attacks from days to seconds. No false positives—every alert is real. That means you reduce dwell time from 10+ days to nearly zero and gain valuable minutes to respond while the attacker is still in your trap.
• Threat intelligence: Every action in a honeypot is logged. You learn what tools attackers use, what data they seek, and which vulnerabilities they target. You effectively build your own tailored threat intel feed. If attackers repeatedly target an old FTP server, it’s a sign to isolate or patch that in your real network.
• Training ground: Honeypots offer realistic training. Teams can practice real attacks in a safe environment. Instead of tabletop simulations, they respond to live alerts like: “Someone’s in the fake warehouse DB!” You sharpen incident response and build team confidence.
• Compliance & audits: In the era of NIS2, ISO27001, and NIST CSF, honeypots help demonstrate active defense. Regulators want proof you’re not passive. Honeypots also support threat intel collection—a NIS2 requirement. In short, they check important audit boxes.
• Awareness booster: When employees know fake systems exist to catch intruders, it raises overall awareness. “What’s a honeypot?” becomes a conversation at the coffee machine—making cybersecurity more tangible for everyone.

Honeypot ROI and Quick Wins

You’re probably wondering: what’s the return on investment?

Consider this: the average cost of a data breach was $4.45 million in 2023. Preventing one incident can more than pay for a honeypot investment. Even if it “only” limits ransomware damage—remember, ransoms run into six figures, and downtime costs millions. Trust loss is even harder to quantify.

Honeypots are relatively low-cost, especially software-based ones. They don’t drain your IT team—alerts only appear for real threats. In fact, they reduce workload by filtering out noise.

Best of all, you can start small:

• Deploy a single honeypot: Pose it as a legacy file server or warehouse database. Pick something believable in your environment. Setup can take just a few hours.
• Integrate with existing monitoring: Send honeypot alerts to your SIEM or as a Slack/Teams message. Usually just a webhook or syslog config—easy but impactful.
• Inform select staff: Let your IT/security team know. Don’t let someone accidentally store real data in the fake system. Not everyone needs to know—it increases the chance of catching a malicious insider.

This is already a mini pilot. Within 30 days, you’ll likely catch unexpected activity—like scans from shady IPs or access attempts on forgotten devices. Valuable insight with minimal effort.

Get Started

Hopefully, you're as excited as I am about what honeypots can offer supply chain security. We’re on the brink of a smarter, proactive defense strategy—surprising for attackers, empowering for us.

At SecurityHive, we’ve launched something special. We offer logistics companies a free 30-day pilot of our honeypot solution. No long-term commitment—just a chance to see what it reveals. Here’s what we’ll do:

1. Kickoff chat: We learn about your critical assets and systems.
2. Deploy a fitting honeypot: Like a fake “Warehouse DB” or SCADA system.
3. Integrate with your monitoring: You watch the activity from day one.
4. Evaluate after 30 days: Did we detect anything? What did we learn? We deliver a full report with findings and recommendations.

You get to experience the power of this tech firsthand—no upfront investment. Think of it as a test drive with a new security car—heck, we’ll even steer for you 😄. Many clients are stunned by what’s uncovered in just one month: hidden scans, old misused credentials, and more.

Let’s catch the attackers before they cause harm.