Ransomware Attack Had an Impact on its Fourth Quarter Financial Results

Ransomware

This week, North American trucking and freight shipping logistics giant Forward Air Corporation said a December 2020 ransomware assault had an effect on its financial performance for the fourth quarter in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Greeneville, Tennessee-based company has been offering land transport and associated logistics services to the air freight industry for three decades and has been accelerating the less than load (LTL) market in North America.

The organisation announced in a December 2020 SEC filing that a ransomware incident disrupted its operating and information management networks, triggering service disruptions.

The company was able to handle the incident immediately, and conducted an inquiry into it and notified the relevant authorities as well.

Recovery activities continued for at least a few months, and the firm said at the time that due to constant disruptions in the company’s service, the incident was likely to cause a loss in sales.

This week, the transport giant announced in an 8-K form filed with the SEC that the ransomware attack actually had a financial impact.

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

Overall, the incident is likely to result in the loss of an estimated $7.5 million in LTL sales, primarily because the transportation firm claims it had to suspend ‘electronic data interfaces with its clients.’

Though Forward Air did not have details on the ransomware family responsible for the attack, the Hades ransomware gang was behind the incident, FreightWaves reported.

Jennifer Thomas
Jennifer Thomas is the Co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer at Cybers Guards. Prior to that, She was responsible for leading its Cyber Security Practice and Cyber Security Operations Center, which provided managed security services.