British Freight Forwarding and Logistics Industry Warned of Latest Cyber Scam

UK – Anyone with a computer these days is liable to be attacked by cyber criminals and the logistics sector has been updating its protection measures following last year's two massive incursions into systems at Maersk and Clarkson's. Now the British International Freight Association (BIFA), which has as its contacts the core of the UK's shipping and forwarding profession, is warning of an innocent looking email potentially containing a virus aimed specifically at its members.

The email is currently being circulated from a fake address, mail@bifa.org, displaying an image of BIFA President, Sir Peter Bottomley - MP, requesting members to download documents. Anyone receiving this mail SHOULD NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENTS. Delete the email immediately from the inbox.

Here at the Handy Shipping Guide we receive dozens of similar emails every week and indeed have been the subject of several industry scams ourselves. We also wrote a piece three years ago specific to industry scams which readers may find useful. Unfortunately, as with this latest BIFA missive, the criminals are becoming more industry specific, learning to couch their communications which for all intents and purposes appear genuine to the casual reader.