Report: Australia’s transport sector under-prepared for risk of cyber attack

However, it’s a fragile connection, with recent research revealing that many Australian firms in the sector are concerned about their ability to respond to and recover from a cyber security incident.

According to fleet management firm Microlise and its Australian Fleet & Compliance Benchmark 2026 report, less than half of those polled felt prepared and “unworried” about the possibility of a cyber attack targeting their organisation.

The news that only 41 per cent of the sector feel confident comes as one such operator, Midland, found itself the victim of a supply-chain attack carried out by the Cl0p cyber extortion group. Luckily – for certain values of “luck” – Cl0p relies on stealing data via vulnerable third parties, rather than direct attacks on its victims.

Midlands’ systems were likely not encrypted, and while any data breach can be costly, ones of this stripe do not cause widespread disruption capable of shutting down operations for days or even weeks at a time.

The rest of the respondents to Microlise’s survey paint a worrying picture. Forty-nine per cent said they felt adequately prepared, but were still worried, while 9 per cent said they were only somewhat ready for the inevitable and believed they could do more to protect themselves.

Two per cent, however, said they were not at all prepared and very worried about the possibility of a cyber attack.

VIEW ALL

Shaun Gray, head of operations for the Asia-Pacific region at Microlise, explained that the transport and logistics sector faced a very particular cyber security challenge

“Organisations run increasingly connected environments spanning multiple systems, suppliers, customers, vehicles, and operational technology,” Gray told Cyber Daily.

Gray said that while always-on connectivity obviously has many benefits, it also creates points of vulnerability that cannot be ignored. At the same time, managing those vulnerabilities can create friction with normal operations.

“For many operators, security often has to compete with immediate priorities such as keeping vehicles moving, meeting customer requirements, and managing ongoing compliance pressures,” Gray said.

“For a transport operator, a significant cyber incident can quickly disrupt fleet visibility, communications, scheduling and delivery, with flow-on effects for every business that relies on their services.

“That’s why cyber security needs to be treated as part of broader operational resilience – regularly assessing exposure, testing response plans, ensuring technology providers have adequate processes and policies in place, and making sure staff know what to do when something goes wrong. It isn’t only about preventing attacks; it’s about ensuring organisations can identify, respond to and recover from them quickly when they occur.”

Microlise’s survey was conducted by research firm 3GEM in May 2026 and polled 200 respondents from Australian organisations with at least 100 employees.