Now, we’re not here to lecture you about the importance of cybersecurity — if you work in cargo transport anywhere on planet Earth, you’ve already heard that message loud and clear. But with all the fearmongering and vague security promises going around, many fleet managers are having a hard time figuring out the right move. That’s exactly what we’ll address today.
So keep calm and read on. We’ll talk about what a secure fleet management platform looks like, how to spot it, and what questions matter when evaluating a vendor’s platform security.
Here’s our take: it shouldn’t be scary or complicated, and you shouldn’t have to become a cybersecurity expert. In fact, if you choose the right platform, you shouldn’t have to worry about it at all. You just log in, run your fleet, log out, sleep at night.
This pretty much sums up the philosophy that SCALAR, our fleet orchestration platform, is built on. With every architecture decision, every functionality, every integration, we’ve made platform security top of mind, so you don’t have to.
That’s what we mean when we say SCALAR is “secure by design”. If you’ve been comparing fleet management software or reading up on data security, you may have seen this term before.
In practical terms, secure by design means that security and data privacy considerations have shaped every engineering decision from day one — before even writing the first line of code. This approach is based on the principle that malicious threats should be considered a given, and the need to anticipate and address them before they ever become problems guides every step of the design and development process.
The fact of the matter is, cyber threats aren’t going away. Cyber criminals will always look for vulnerabilities in your digital infrastructure — and just like locking the front door won’t keep your house safe if you forget to lock a back window, your system is only as secure as its weakest spot.
If one of your third-party vendors is less protected, that’s like a window left unlocked. If your data is scattered across multiple disconnected systems, each with its own security standards, you might be looking at multiple potential entry points. If you’re using an older system or devices you bought many years ago, this could be another weak spot.
You can see where we’re going with this: when your platform is designed to systematically look for and rule out every potential vulnerability from day one, attackers will find no weak spot to exploit. Or it’ll be so difficult to crack, that they’ll simply move on to easier targets.
We’ve talked about what good platform security feels like, and how security should be put at the core of the building process — like we do with SCALAR. To make this happen, there are real things happening in the background. Look for these key elements behind every “we care about your security” or “industry-grade protection” statement you hear:
Before you get bogged down with lengthy security questionnaires, asking these three questions upfront can tell you a lot about a potential provider’s approach to platform security:
If they’ve done the work, they’ll be happy to talk about it in detail. Ask this question and watch a security engineer’s eyes light up with excitement as they walk you through how they make sure no stone is left unturned — or how even their own engineers can’t access your data.
Quantum computers might be able to easily break today’s encryption methods in the (not-so-distant) future. Any fleet management platform provider who’s serious about cybersecurity is already thinking about this and how to become quantum-safe.
When you partner with us, platform security is our job — not yours. Our goal is simple: with SCALAR, you never have to worry about platform security. We focus on building resilient systems from day one so that you can focus on being a fleet manager: keeping your vehicles in top shape, running a smooth operation, and growing your business.
