Estes Express Executive’s Video

Introduction
A few weeks back, I wrote a blog post about a cyberattack on LTL giant Estes Express.  While the motive for the attack was and is still unknown, it was devastating for the company.  While discrepancies were first noticed on October 1^st, no one was certain that something happened until the following day.  They weren’t the only ones who noticed either, as word spread throughout the day that something was amiss.  Once it became clear that this was not an ordinary instance of a downed website, much of the freight industry directed their attention toward the attack, likely because Estes is such a prominent name in the industry.  To make a long story short, their website wasn’t fully operational until October 24^th, almost three weeks later.   

The Video
During the outage, however, President Webb Estes released update videos letting relevant figures know what had been going in.  Now, in an unusually vulnerable moment for some high-ranking executives, they have released another video recapping the situation.  People can definitely learn a lot from the Estes Express Executive’s video. 

In an open and honest moment, the two executives broke down the situation, took accountability, and advised other companies in the industry to take more preventative measures against these types of incidents in the future.  Showing genuine emotion, Webb Estes came clean and even admitted to crying during the first few attempts to film the video.  They detailed how they decided to shut off many of their website’s functions themselves, even though they were still working, to prevent anything else being compromised.  He also encouraged customers to not hesitate to reach out to other companies when this happens, which is a rare move for a C-Suite position.  Now, he did not concede on the idea of companies taking market share when were in flux. 

Conclusion
Companies both in and out of the logistics industry can learn something from this incident.  Firstly, cybersecurity is extremely important.  Advanced Logistics takes measures in protecting the information of the company, using password protection and IT professionals.  Secondly, the Estes Express Executive’s video is a breath of fresh air when it comes to transparency from company leaders.  There has been an increased push for this kind of behavior out of high ranking executives.  At least it’s a step in the right direction, and they should be applauded for it. 

—Jack

Works Cited: Estes execs recap hack experience in unusual video presentation – FreightWaves