Understanding 3PL Cybersecurity Risks

When Cyber Attacks Hit Your Supply Chain

Imagine your inventory management system suddenly going dark. Or discovering customer shipment data exposed on the dark web. Or worse, receiving a ransomware demand that threatens to shut down your distribution network.

These aren’t hypothetical scenarios. They’re happening right now across the logistics industry.

According to Munich Re and Mandiant Cyber Underwriting’s 2025 Threat Intelligence report, manufacturing, technology, and transportation sectors are increasingly targeted by sophisticated cyber criminals. Standing in the crosshairs? The 3PL warehouses that connect these industries.

The $60B Supply Chain Cybersecurity Problem

By 2025, global financial damage from supply chain cyberattacks is projected to reach a staggering $60 billion annually. This includes:

• Direct financial losses
• Operational disruptions
• Regulatory fines and penalties
• Reputational damage
• Recovery and remediation costs

Yet when C-level executives were asked about their company’s cyber risk preparedness last year, 87% admitted their protective measures were “inadequate.”

For many organizations, the vulnerabilities are clear: lack of proactive cybersecurity systems, limited vetting of workers and strategic partners, and insufficient response capabilities when digital intrusion occurs.

What Makes Supply Chains Particularly Vulnerable

According to Norman Cyman, Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at WSI, “A company should expect to deal with an incident at any time. The probability of a successful attack depends on several factors including your risk profile and current security strategy.”

What’s perplexing is that the very qualities needed to enhance supply chain efficiency—visibility and transparency—also increase cyber risk. Every point of system integration can harbor vulnerabilities:

• Warehouse management systems (WMS)
• Transportation management systems (TMS)
• Electronic data interchange (EDI) networks
• Inventory tracking platforms
• Customer and vendor portals

But it isn’t just the shared infrastructure causing risks. When businesses fail to properly categorize information, sensitive data can be mistakenly stored, shared, and classified as public.

The Human Element is Still Your Biggest Cybersecurity Risk

At the root of the most common cybersecurity breaches—phishing and social engineering—is human error.

“These attacks are successful because of the access given to sensitive customer data and the wide attack surface area involving customer systems, combined with human vulnerability,” Cyman explains.

A single mistaken click can compromise an entire logistics network.

AI and the Emerging Threat Landscape

The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Cybersecurity Outlook reveals a concerning gap:

• 66% of organizations expect AI to have the most significant impact on cybersecurity
• Yet only 37% report having processes to assess the security of AI tools before deployment

“With AI, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to identify signs of cyber intrusion,” says Cyman. “Today, the majority of phishing emails have perfect spelling and grammar, are customized to the recipient, and usually pass standard email security checks.”

This evolving threat landscape requires a new level of vigilance from everyone in your supply chain. But this challenge also presents an opportunity. When evaluating 3PL partners, cybersecurity readiness should be as important as operational efficiency. The right partner doesn’t just optimize your logistics, but also protects your entire supply chain ecosystem.

Key questions to ask potential 3PL partners

• What proactive cybersecurity measures are in place across all systems?
• How do you vet and train employees on cyber threats?
• What’s your incident response plan, and how quickly can operations resume?
• How do you secure data classification and access controls?
• What AI security assessments do you conduct before deploying new tools?

The bottom line

Cybersecurity isn’t just IT’s responsibility in an interconnected supply chain. Choose 3PL partners who understand that protecting your data is as critical as moving your products. Your supply chain is only as secure as your most vulnerable partner. Make cybersecurity a cornerstone of your 3PL selection process, because in today’s threat landscape, operational excellence without digital security is a risk no business can afford.

Ready to evaluate your current 3PL’s cybersecurity posture? Contact our team to learn how WSI’s comprehensive security framework protects your supply chain operations.