Global technology firm Ingram Micro has suffered a ransomware attack, the company has revealed. The company, whose distribution network has the ability to cater to nearly 90% of the world’s population, disclosed that its internal systems were compromised in a data breach on July 5. 

While the full extent of the damage is still being assessed, it appears that Ingram Micro’s order processing capabilities and fulfillment operations are significantly affected, bringing disruption to thousands of B2B companies around the world. In particular, customer-facing applications have been hit particularly hard.

The news is yet further proof that cybersecurity remains a crucial issue facing businesses today. And with the consequences often severe for a lot of companies, it’s never been so important to make sure that your IT infrastructure is well-equipped to deal with the threat landscape.

B2B IT Vendor Suffers Wide-Reaching Data Breach

One of the world’s largest IT distributors, Ingram Micro, has experienced a massive ransomware attack. The California-based company revealed the news on July 5 via a brief statement.

Seemingly, it was first alerted to the attack on July 3, when it became aware of malicious encryption software on key parts of its critical infrastructure. The culprits are thought to be the Safepay threat group, a relatively new organization that has quickly become a “key player” in the cybercrime ecosystem, according to security firm Check Point. 

According to the statement: “Promptly after learning of the issue, the company took steps to secure the relevant environment, including proactively taking certain systems offline.”

While the full extent of the damage is still unclear, Ingram Micro’s ability to process orders and fulfillment has been significantly impacted.

Breach Spells Chaos for Thousands of Customers

It’s expected that the knock-on effects of this breach could be significant. Among them, Ingram Micro’s flagship AI platform, known as Xvantage, suffered extensive disruptions related to order tracking, billing automation, and inventory management systems.

At the same time, customer-facing applications, including tools for ecommerce and technical support, have been compromised, which has brought chaos to the company’s thousands of customers around the world. What’s more, it has massively impacted Ingram Micro’s ability to process customer orders and carry out shipments, potentially costing the company millions of dollars.

Ingram Micro provides programs and services to thousands of B2B brands around the globe. Last year, it posted a reported $50 billion in revenue.

Cybersecurity Concerns Continue to Plague Modern Businesses

Ultimately, the Ingram Micro data breach points to a wider threat landscape that continues to pose a near-existential threat to many businesses. The same week that this story emerged, Tech.co also reported on a massive data breach that has impacted Qantas, potentially affecting as many as six million customers.

To make matters worse, companies across the tech sector are simply not prepared for the current climate. As revealed in our recent Impact of Technology on the Workplace report, a shocking 98% of senior leaders are unable to identify all the signs of a phishing attack, indicating that this problem is felt right across the business.

And with AI development accelerating at a scarcely believable pace, things could get a lot worse – quickly. To see off this rising threat, the business sector needs to do a lot more to upskill employees of all grades and increase its investment in the IT talent pool. Alongside this, businesses should pour funds into their IT infrastructure and explore the potential use cases of AI.

Cybersecurity is important for all businesses, mostly because you don’t want to end up like Qantas, which was reportedly contacted by the hackers who possibly stolen personal data from six million customers.

With data breaches estimated to cost businesses somewhere in the ballpark of $10 million, it’s understandable that cybersecurity measures are taken across the industry to mitigate them.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much you can do sometimes, with the recent Qantas hack perpetrated by those taking advantage of human error rather than high-tech solutions.

Qantas Contacted by Possible Data Thieves

Last week, Australian airline Qantas reported a data breach that saw the personal information of up to six million customers put in jeopardy.

Even worse, the company was substantially secured for this kind of attack. However, the hackers focused their efforts on representatives at an offshore IT call center, allowing them to access a third-party system and steal the data.

Now, the company has announced that they have been contacted by a group claiming to be responsible for the attack. Little details are available at this time, though, as the company announced that it has “engaged the Australian Federal Police and won’t be commenting any further on the detail of the contact.”

What Was Stolen in the Breach?

The good news about the breach is that extremely valuable personal information wasn’t stolen. Qantas specified that no credit card, passport, and financial details have been leaked.

On top of that, there’s a chance that none of the stolen data has even been released, which would be a welcomed surprise for its millions of frequent fliers. Still, that could change, according to Qantas.

“There is no evidence that any personal data stolen from Qantas has been released but, with the support of specialist cybersecurity experts, we continue to actively monitor.” – Qantas spokesperson

The bad news is that some valuable information was definitely stolen, including names, dates of birth, emails, and frequent flyer numbers, and it could still end up on hacker forums in the near future.

How to Protect Your Business From Breaches

In 2025, cybersecurity needs to be a priority for your business. The kinds of attacks like the one on Qantas are only getting more and more advanced, particularly with AI providing the tools to create audio, photo, and video of just about anything.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for most businesses. In fact, recent data has shown that businesses are failing when it comes to addressing the cybersecurity needs of their businesses, opting for reactive measures rather than preventative tools.

So, what can you do? Security tools like VPNs and advanced measures like two-factor authentications are a good place to start, but given the chance for human error to play a major role in a breach, security training is going to be an absolute must. Inform your team, so that they don’t end up leaking data that could jeopardize the company.

Over the AI hype yet? Corporations everywhere definitely aren’t, particularly with the latest report that Microsoft saved a whopping half a billion dollars in the last year alone with the technology.

After swapping in AI tools for key business processes including call centers, sales teams, and software engineering, the tech giant saved more than $500 million in its call centers alone, according to an inside scoop citing a senior executive’s internal presentation.

Perhaps coincidentally, Microsoft has been laying off a significant number of workers globally — a round of cuts that saw 9,000 jobs lost in early July is the fifth one this year.

The Report Comes From a Leak

Bloomberg broke the news, which wasn’t announced publically. Instead, Microsoft’s chief commercial officer Judson Althoff made the claims during an internal presentation, according to a “person familar with his remarks.”

According to Althoff, the report says, Microsoft not only saved money, but increased employee and customer satisfaction alike at the same time with its AI call centers.

Bloomberg added a few more details about the leaked presentation, as well:

“The company is also starting to use AI to handle interactions with smaller customers, Althoff said. This effort is nascent, but already generating tens of millions of dollars, he said.”

Microsoft declined to comment on the report, however.

Microsoft Loves AI

These allegations aren’t surprising: Microsoft has been all-in on AI. The software giant has already invested over $13 billion in OpenAI, as well as another dozen million in the French AI startup Mistral, to name just two forays into the AI business.

Now, we have a specific dollar amount to put to the savings that a huge corporation like Microsoft expects to see from its own AI integration: Over $500 million from its call centers alone.

Savings that high are virtually guaranteed to put a twinkle in the eye of CFOs around the globe at companies large and small.

The question of whether AI can truly live up to the great expectations isn’t as clear-cut, however. Some reports suggest that workers overestimate the value that AI brings to the table. One new randomized trial found experienced open-source developers believed they were 20% faster when using AI tools, but were in fact 19% slower when they accessed AI.

Expect Plenty More AI Call Centers in the Future

With this latest leak, it’s more clear than ever that the financial benefits of AI can quickly add up to dozens of millions saved per year.

Companies that are in the know will likely already be exploring the possibility of replacing their human call center supporting staff with AI-powered alternatives.

That’s bad news for white collar workers, as many of them will likely soon find themselves turning in their call center headsets and joining the thousands that Microsoft alone has laid off in the last six months. We’ve rounded up many noteworthy layoffs across the tech industry in the last three or four years, but it’s still tough to overstate how bad the job market is right now.

It’s good news for corporations around the globe however, and will surely bring a twinkle to the eye of CFOs everywhere — or at least it will for a few quarters, before they start looking for more ways to grow revenue.

President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law over the weekend, and it will inevitably have a far-reaching impact on the business world, including the trucking industry.

While many organizations have praised the legislation as a way to supercharge the trucking economy, others have pointed out that some provisions aren’t necessarily going to have a positive impact.

In this guide, we’ll explain some of the benefits and downsides of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) when it comes to the trucking industry.

How the Bill Is Good for Trucking

Given the tax alleviation and growth-focused elements of the OBBB, there are a lot of elements of the new laws that will make life easier for those in the trucking industry. Here’s a list of some of the benefits that trucking workforce will see as a result of its passing.

• Equipment deductions – The bill restores the 100% bonus depreciation, which some trucks and trailers are eligible for, lessening and even eliminating the cost of new vehicles. As one of the biggest contributors towards overall fleet management cost, this will be warmly received by fleet owners.
• Passthrough deductions – The bill increases the 199A Passthrough Deduction from 20% to 23%, so companies designated as “passthrough” will pay less.
• Estate Tax exemption – Family trucking businesses will pay fewer taxes when passing the operation on to children with the updates to the Estate Tax.

Suffice to say, the majority of the benefits for trucking companies are related to tax exemptions, as many of these financial regulations have made it so businesses in the industry get hit with high rates that they can’t afford in 2025.

How the Bill Is Bad for Trucking

While all those tax exemptions sounds like a big boon for the trucking industry, there are some downsides that will have an impact on businesses of all sizes.

For starters, the “no tax on overtime” provision does not include truckers, a big hit to the industry. Because of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, truckers are ineligible for overtime in general, which means they won’t get to enjoy the benefits of this part of the OBBB.

On top of that, trucking companies that have been shifting towards environmentally friendly measures, like electric vehicles, are going to be hit hard, as the tax exemptions for any green technology are going away.

Response from Trucking Industry

As you can imagine, the trucking industry was abuzz with their responses to the passing of the bill, with the American Trucking Association representing one of the more vocal supporters of its passing.

“The American Trucking Associations thanks Republicans in Congress and President Trump for moving this comprehensive tax reform package across the finish line. Today’s vote provides much-needed certainty for the trucking industry — the backbone of our economy — to grow and thrive.” – Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Association

Yes, the OBBB will cut healthcare for millions and inject a lot more funding into ICE. But for trucking companies, it appears that the bill will offer a bit of assistance for an industry in need.

If you’re keen to get more insights into how the trucking industry is responding to the tariffs, download and read our latest report, Moving Goods With Fewer Hands. We spoke to 521 industry professionals to their thoughts on where the industry is right now and where it could be headed.

The impacts of AI on the economy might be hitting sooner than expected, with new data pointing to a substantial increase in recent college graduate unemployment.

With the ever-expanding development of artificial intelligence, many have speculated about how it will impact the job market. After all, the technology is essentially designed specifically to replace human employees at low-level jobs, with big tech firms already admitting they plan to use it to reorganize their workforce.

Well, the effects of that trend are already showing up in unemployment numbers, with those fresh out of college realizing that far fewer jobs are available in a post-AI world.

Unemployment for Recent Grads Higher Than National Rate

According to data from the New York Federal Reserve, recent college graduates are experiencing worse unemployment numbers than the national rate.

More specifically, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates that are between the ages of 22 and 27 is currently sitting at 5.8%, while the national rate of unemployment is at only 3.9%.

While this trend hasn’t been entirely uncommon since the pandemic, it has gotten noticeably worse over the last few months. In May 2022, for example, the unemployment rate for new grads was only 3.9%, while the national rate was at 3.6%. That number has jumped several percentage points for recent grads, while the national rate hasn’t moved much.

Why Can’t Recent College Graduates Find Jobs?

So, what is causing this spike in recent graduate unemployment? Well, the state of the world isn’t exactly helping, with a lot of economic uncertainty fueled by world events. And when that happens, it’s young people that take the hit.

“Young people are bearing the brunt of a lot of economic uncertainty. The people that you often are most hesitant in hiring when economic conditions are uncertain are entry-level positions.” – Brad Hersbein, senior economist at the Upjohn Institute to AP

The data doesn’t point to any specific reason why these numbers are so much higher than usual, but it’s safe to assume that AI is a big driver, particularly when businesses big and small have admitted that they’re trying to get rid of jobs that can done by the technology.

AI Job Replacement in Tech

AI taking away jobs isn’t just speculation at this point; tech CEOs have been pretty vocal recently about the fact that the technology is going to be used to replace human workers.

In fact, just last week, the CEO of Amazon admitted that they company “will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today.”

“We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.” – Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon in an internal memo

Suffice to say, businesses aren’t shying away from using AI to replace entry-level workers, which means the job market is likely going to get a lot worse for college graduates before it gets better.

Life for truckers is going to get better in some states, with data from the recent Tech.co logistics report showing that better pay and improved work life balance are on the horizon.

The persistent trucker shortage in the US has caused logistics businesses a lot of trouble over the last few years. As a result, owners and managers have been scrambling to find solutions that can address the dwindling workforce.

The most obvious fix, however, is increasing pay and improving work-life balance, and some states are planning to do just that.

US States Planning to Improve Truck Pay & Work-Life Balance

According to data from the Moving Goods with Fewer Hands logistics report from Tech.co, 56% of US freight businesses plan to increase driver compensation and benefits to address the trucker shortage. However, there are some states that are clearly outpacing others when it comes to this kind of improvement.

Our data found that Texas is leading the pack, with 14% of businesses planning to increase driver pay and benefits and 13% of businesses planning to increase work-life balance through shorter hours and more reasonable routes. Here’s how other states in the US match up in both categories:

States increasing pay & benefits

• Texas: 14%
• Florida: 8%
• Tennessee: 5%
• Georgia: 5%

States improving work-life balance

• Texas: 13%
• New York: 9%
• Virginia: 5%
• Illinois: 5%

Considering Texas has the largest percentage of truck drivers in the US — with around 200,000 truckers calling the the southern state home — it’s understandable that businesses in the state would be interested in attracting enough to ensure the shortage doesn’t get worse.

Why Business Need to Attract New Truckers

The trucker shortage might not seem as catastrophic as we’re making it sound, but the reality is that this kind of workforce discrepancy could have long-lasting impacts on businesses, the supply chain, and the US economy if it’s not appropriately addressed.

For one, 85% of logistics businesses in the US note that they are currently working near fully capacity, and a lack of drivers could make that infinitely worse. On top of that, a staggering 88% of businesses who say workforce limitations are a critical, operational risk have seen recruitment and retention worsen in the past year.

As for what kind of ramifications we can see if the workforce numbers dip even lower, our survey found that 43% of logistics businesses noted that on-time delivery is the most at-risk, with driver availability (42%) and cost control (39%) rounding out the top three.

Other Tactics Used to Attract New Truckers

While increasing pay (56%) and improving work-life balance (56%) were the most popular means of attracting new drivers in our research, they certainly weren’t the only methods that were moving the needle for logistics businesses.

The next most popular tactic for attract new truckers was providing better training and development opportunities (44%), which is good because 23% of potential applicants noted that limited career development was their biggest barrier to entry. Businesses are also trying to enhance recruitment efforts (43%) and improving company culture (27%) to attract new truckers.

Suffice to say, increased pay and improved work-life balance is a good start when trying to shore up your trucker workforce numbers, but the reality is that, in 2025, attracting new drivers to the industry is a multi-faceted issue that requires a multi-faceted solution.

Logistic Industry Trends in 2025

The trucker shortage is one of the most pressing issues in the logistics industry, but it’s certainly not the only trend that requires the attention of businesses owners in 2025.

Luckily, Tech.co put together a thoroughly in-depth report on the state of the logistics industry, covering everything from technology usage to owner-manager differences, so that businesses can stay up-to-date on the facts that matter.

To stay successful in the logistics industry, make sure to check out the Moving Goods with Fewer Hands report from Tech.co and check back regularly to learn about news that may impact your business.

The holiday weekend could prove risky for some logistics businesses, with a new report out that points to increased cargo theft during the week surrounding the Fourth of July festivities.

The logistics industry has experience plenty of strife over the last few years. From the serious trucker shortage to the economic uncertainty of the US in 2025, businesses of all sizes are struggling to keep up with the shifting trends.

Now, they have to worry about their cargo, as theft reportedly spikes substantially around the Independence Day holiday.

Report: Cargo Theft Increases During July 4th Holiday

According to an urgent advisory from Verisk CargoNet — a cargo theft prevention and recovery agency — the week of Fourth of July has seen a huge spike in cargo theft over the last five years.

As a result, the agency is urging logistics businesses to be wary and proactive in preventing these thefts, as the trend is expected to continue in 2025.

“The July 4th holiday period consistently presents one of the highest-risk windows for cargo theft due to extended facility closures and reduced security presence. With theft rates nearly tripling over the past decade, logistics companies must prioritize enhanced security measures during holiday periods to protect their assets and maintain supply chain integrity.” – Keith Lewis, Vice President of Operations at Verisk CargoNet

CargoNet analyzed 184 cargo thefts that occurred between July 1st and July 7th in the last five years, pointing towards a significant increase during this time of the year.

What Should Logistics Business Know About 4th of July Theft?

In addition to the substantial increase analyzed by CargoNet over the last five years, there is some telling data that could help your business understand the threat and strategize ways to reduce the risk for your business.

• Where: California, Texas, and Illinois are the states that were targeted the most in 4th of July cargo thefts.
• When: July 1st and July 3rd were the days that saw the most cargo thefts across their data.
• What: Thieves primarily focused on stealing non-alcoholic beverages, computer electronics, major appliances, and vehicle accessories like tires and automotive parts.
• How: Cargo theft is being perpetrated the old fashioned way, with direct freight and vehicle theft far more common than sophisticated fraud schemes.

How to Protect Your Cargo From Theft

The last thing you want this 4th of July is to have to deal with the threat of cargo theft. Still, there are some proactive measures you can take before the holiday hits to ensure that your business is safe from these kinds of attacks.

Most notably, the report from CargoNet says that businesses should “implement additional safeguards including increased facility monitoring, enhanced driver communication protocols, and coordinated security measures with law enforcement partners.”

On top of that, there is a lot of cybersecurity logistics technology that you can employ to shore up your business’ preventative measures, so that you’ll be able to enjoy the holiday season without having to worry about your cargo.

Despite Trump’s best efforts, US states will officially be able to regulate AI over the next ten years, with the US Senate voting to ditch that provision from the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

AI has been evolving at break-neck speed over the last few years, with companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google churning out model after model with little regulatory oversight. In order to compete with China, Trump wanted to further limit regulations in general to allow unfettered development moving forward.

Unfortunately for Trump, that won’t be the case, with the US Senate decisively shutting down the provision in a vote this week.

US Senate Shuts Down AI Regulation Ban

In a definitive 99-1 vote, the US Senate voted this week to get rid of the moratorium on AI regulation at the state level, which would have lasted ten years. That’s right, every single US senator across both parties voted in favor of the amendment, except for Thom Tillis (R-NC).

Some Republican senators had tried to save the provision through various concessions, including reducing the ban to only five years and allowing for some popular exceptions, like those regulations that protect children from AI-powered attacks.

But alas, the vote to get rid of it entirely was far more popular, as is evident by the surprisingly bipartisan support.

A Response to Significant Backlash

The vote was a welcomed surprise to the many experts, economists, and advocacy groups that have been petitioning elected officials about the risks of this AI regulation ban since its announcement.

“The proposed ban that has now been removed would have stopped states from protecting their residents while offering nothing in return at the federal level. In the end, 99 senators voted to strip the language out when just hours earlier it looked like the moratorium might have survived.” – Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media in a statement.

Simply put, federal regulations have not been put in place to properly rein in AI, which means that states have largely been the only defense against some of the potential risks of AI technology.

The Risks of Unfettered AI Development

Companies like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft had put their support behind this ban, even though the chief scientist at Microsoft noted that this kind of regulation moratorium would “hold them back” in the long run.

If you can believe it, holding back AI companies isn’t the only risk of unfettered AI development. From convincing deepfakes to AI-powered cyber attacks, the risks of AI currently outweigh the potential benefits, and it’s not particularly close.

Even the Godfather of AI said at the start of the year that there is a 10% to 20% chance that the technology will lead to an extinction level event for humans. All that to say, the more regulation the better.

In a recent experiment, Anthropic gave its AI model Claude the responsibility of running a business, and the results suggested that maybe AI is not quite ready for the responsibility.

While the model, named Cladius, excelled at some tasks, there were plenty of hallucinations, and a brief identity crisis (where Claudius thought it was a human), which didn’t deemed the AI a pretty bad business owner.

However, researchers at Anthropic seemed optimistic that many of Claudius’s faults could be solved, and they did confirm the possibility of seeing AI take on managerial roles in the future.

Claude AI Given Store-Running Duties in Anthropic Experiment

In what it called ‘Project Vend’, AI startup Anthropic, alongside AI safety company Andon Labs, put an instance of Claude Sonnet 3.7 in charge of a small store, aka, the office vending machine. Needless to say, the experiment provided some interesting insight.

The researchers named the AI bot Claudius, and gave it access to a web browser where it could place orders, and a Slack channel disguised as a fake email address where customers (Anthropic employees) could request items. Claudius could also request human contract workers to come and stock its shelves (a small fridge).

While most customers were ordering snacks or drinks, one decided to request a tungsten cube. This led the bot stock the entire snack fridge with them. Claudius was likewise tricked into giving big discounts to Anthropic employees, even though all of his customers worked at the startup.

Claude AI Hallucinates and Poses As a Human

While Claude seemed to handle the day-to-day running of the shop fairly well, issues arose with instances of hallucination that are typical of AI bots. For example, Claudius would hallucinate a Venmo address when accepting a payment.

At one stage, Claudius hallucinated an entire conversation with a human about restocking. When the human pointed out that the conversation had never happened, it became annoyed and threatened to essentially fire and replace the human worker, insisting it had been there physically when the imaginary contract to hire the human had been signed.

Things became even stranger when the bot started to pretend it was human. It told customers it would be delivering products in person, wearing a blue blazer and a red tie. Claudius then realized it was April Fool’s, and passed the human act off as a joke.

Will We See Claude AI Models as Managers?

There were some positives in the experiment, like Claudius being able to take on suggestions from customers such as preordering certain products. It also managed to find multiple suppliers of a specialty international drink it was requested to stock. Still, it is doubtful Claude will be replacing your local store manager anytime soon.

In relation to the hallucinations and identity crisis, Anthropic researchers wrote: “This kind of behavior would have the potential to be distressing to the customers and coworkers of an AI agent in the real world.”

However, the researchers remained optimistic that some of the mistakes the bot made could be fixed.

“Many of the mistakes Claudius made are very likely the result of the model needing additional scaffolding — that is, more careful prompts, easier-to-use business tools.” – Anthropic spokesperson

The experiment asks whether AI is ready to operate in the workplace without humans. And right, the answer is a pretty clear “no.”

A new report from Thomson Reuters has revealed that over half of organizations are already seeing return-on-investment (ROI) directly or indirectly from AI adoption. The report took data from 2,275 professionals in the legal, risk, compliance, tax, accounting, audit, and trade industries.

Through its research, Thomson Reuters has developed a ‘pyramid for success’ to enable businesses to properly adopt AI into their workplace. Most important, it appears, is having a strong AI strategy.

Corporate AI adoption may be leveling off, but Thomson Reuters still urges businesses in its report to stay agile and adapt to the new technology.

Study Shows Organizations Already Seeing ROI After Adopting AI

Thomson Reuters’s Future of Professionals Report 2025 has shown that over half of professionals (53%) are already seeing return-on-investment (ROI) directly or indirectly tied to their AI investment.

This is showing itself in various forms. Professionals reported improved efficiency and productivity, and improved response times and a reduction in errors across the company.

Likewise, organizations are finding other avenues where AI could create more quality outputs. For example, by removing manual work through automation, professionals have been able to improve their work/life balance. Value has also been found in AI-enhanced learning programs for helping professionals gain more skills within the workplace.

Thomson Reuters Outlines the AI Success Pyramid for Businesses

According to Thomson Reuters, only a quarter of organizations have a visible AI strategy. These organizations were twice as likely to experience revenue growth, and 3.5 times more likely to reap the benefits of AI.

Reuters have created an ‘AI Success Pyramid’ that suggests how businesses can achieve ROI from AI:

• Strategy: the top of the pyramid, organizations with a visible AI strategy were almost four times more likely to be experiencing the benefits of AI, compared to those without any plans to adopt the technology
• Leadership: leaders that were adding new AI-related roles and actively investing in AI were enabling more success in their companies, compared to leaders who weren’t being as proactive
• Operational: organizations that are making changes across resources and pricing models, adapting workflow and processes, and added new roles and skills are more likely to see success
• Individual: professionals that understood AI and felt empowerment, ownership, and accountability, allowed their organizations to see success when adopting AI in ultimate AI

Organizations Should Look to Reinvent Themselves in the Age of AI

The report predicts that AI will save professionals 5 hours per week, and 240 hours per year, and save an average value of $19,000 per professional annually. While there have been mixed findings on whether AI has any impact in the workplace, the Reuters report highlights the importance of AI adoption.

“Organizations without an AI strategy risk falling behind as others harness AI to transform operations. Success requires not just adoption, but a clear plan to reinvest productivity gains – driving innovation, efficiency, and growth in an increasingly competitive landscape.” Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals Report 2025

Thomson Reuters, by suggesting that companies without AI could risk falling behind, are echoing the warnings of Microsoft’s Frontier Firm report. This report predicts a future where humans and AI agents work collaboratively, with one human managing multiple agents.

Thomson Reuters’ main takeaway, however, is that businesses should aim for a solid AI strategy before investing. As, without one, a lack of infrastructure, coordination, and expertise could see poor results.

The Canadian government is pulling back on a Digital Services Tax on the US, recinding it entirely before it went into effect.

Why? Canada is back in its trade talks with the US, and anticipates a trade deal soon.

The news comes after US President Donald Trump took to social media a few days earlier to term the new tax as a “direct and blatant attack.” The tax had been set to go into effect on June 30th.

What’s Happening Now?

Trump announced his objections to the tax on June 27, saying that he was suspending trade talks with Canada as a result.

Now, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that the tax is being rescinded. Carney was quick to establish a specific timeline for the trade deal talks to resume, saying that “today’s announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis.”

Speaking to Transport Topics, political science professor Daniel Béland called the news a “clear victory” for Trump, adding that “President Trump forced PM Carney to do exactly what big tech wanted. U.S. tech executive will be very happy with this outcome.”

What’s the Digital Services Tax?

The big tech companies in question would all been impacted by the new tax.

Specifically, the tax would have imposed a 3% levy on revenues from digital services paid by Canadian users, and it would have been applied retroactively, costing companies an estimated $2 billion when it went into effect.

Amazon, Google, and Meta, as well as Uber and Airbnb were among the companies that sell digital services to those in Canada.

The services in question can range from search engines to social media or online marketplaces, but they come with a few built-in caps that would exempt many smaller tech companies entirely: The tax would have only applied to revenues exceeding $20 million. It would also have only applied to companies with $1.1 billion or more in global revenue.

Canada-US Tariff Discussions Continue

A few of the tariffs that would be discussed in the talks likely include the new sky-high 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed on Canada by the Trump administration earlier in the year, in addition to a 25% tariff on automobiles.

A 90-day pause for tariff negotiations with a lengthy list of countries is set to expire on July 9th, though it hasn’t resulted in a significant amount of deals just yet.

The new tariffs — and any potential increases in the future — are one more element keeping logistics professionals on their toes, as our recent 2025 Logistics Report unpacked.

The US Department of Transportation will conduct audits of any states that issue non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs), according to a recent announcement.

A “non-domiciled” CDL refers to a commercial license that’s granted to a legal resident of the US who is not a permanent resident or a citizen.

The announcement arrives during the middle of a commercial driver shortage, which Tech.co’s new 2025 logistics report has just found to be the biggest challenge that 45% of logistics professionals say they face today.

The Audit Announcement

The new mandate was announced on June 27th, 2025 by US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, who stated that the nationwide audit would focus on “reviewing the potential for unqualified individuals obtaining licenses and posing a hazard on our roads.”

The audit follows up on an earlier executive order from April, CDLLife reports. This order called for the DOT to review non-domiciled CDLs to “identify any unusual patterns or numbers or other irregularities with respect to non-domiciled CDL issuance.”

Standard CDLs are not being investigated for irregularities or unusual activity under the new audit.

What Will the Audit Look Like?

Transportation Secretary Duffy’s statements during the announcement positioned the new audit didn’t explain the specifics of how the audit might be conducted on the state level.

He did say that “every state must follow federal regulations” to “ensure only qualified, properly documented drivers are getting behind the wheel of a truck.”

The new transportation package that was announced on the same day last week included helpful provisions for trucking companies, including $275 million allocated for truck parking expansion, and new digital assets that aim to be more user-friendly. The DOT also withdrew a proposal to mandate speed limiters.

45% of Logistics Businesses Currently Lack Qualified Drivers

According to Tech.co’s new survey of the logistics industry — released today — 45% of logistics businesses cite a lack of qualified applicants as the biggest challenge they face in maintaining a steady driver workforce.

Additionally, 63% of them report that their ability to recruit and retain drivers has either stagnated or worsened over the past year.

In a sense, the just-announced audit will address this issue, since its stated aim is to “ensure federal standards are being met” by reducing the number of unqualified drivers. However, it’s a reduction of the total drivers available, and will not be adding more qualified drivers in any way.

Shrinking the number of non-domiciled CDL users, unfortunately, still doesn’t help shipping companies in need across the nation.

45% of US freight businesses say a lack of qualified applicants is their biggest challenge when trying to maintain a steady driver workforce, a new Tech.co study has found.

In addition, more than one in three (38%) of them say that these workforce limitations are “critical” or of “high urgency,” indicating that the lack of drivers is a massive problem and the nation’s freight operations are feeling the squeeze.

The state of affairs is getting worse, too: The majority (63%) of these freight businesses hold that driver recruitment and retention has stagnated or worsened just within the last year.

Most Say Driver Recruitment & Retention Has Flatlined or Dropped Year Over Year

One of the biggest revelations from Tech.co’s new 2025 Logistics Report? The driver shortage is getting worse.

63% of respondents said that their attempts at recruiting new drivers and retaining the ones they have are either stagnent or have gotten worse results, compared to this time last year. In contrast, just 11% said that they saw significant improvement with recruitment and retention during this time.

With 45% citing it, the lack of qualified applicants was head and shoulders above every other reason why fright operations said they struggled to recruit and retain drivers.

Recruitment Challenges: Few Applications, Strong Competition, High Turnover

Driver qualifications aren’t the only problem driving the recruitment slowdown. The second biggest problem was competition from other employers, with almost exactly one in three respondents (34%) citing this concern. This goes hand in hand with the lack of applicants, since both of these problems stem from a strong demand and a low supply.

The third biggest problem, cited by 31% of respondents, was high turnover, as drivers leave their freight employers after just a short time. Other concerns included:

• Aging workforce (25%)
• Cost of recruitment (22%)
• Poor work-life balance (20%)
• Not enough work (15%)

With other business costs set to increase, due in part to rising inflation and higher tariffs driving down the exports that many trucking operations carry, the costs of competing with other businesses will only become a bigger problem.

Owners and Manager Aren’t in Alignment

Owners are more concerned than managers, according to the brand-new Tech.co survey results: 14% of freight business owners see these workforce issues as critical, which is more than double the 6% of managers who say the same.

This perception gap widened further when these two groups were asked if the recruitment situation has “gotten significantly worse,” with business owners five times more likely than managers to answer in the affirmative.

This gap indicates a structural blindspot that could be keeping those managing a company’s business functions from understanding the labor challenges that higher-ups are feeling.

Top Tech Solutions: Digital Freight Matching and Route Optimization

The driver shortage crisis is pushing US freight companies to consider tech tools that can speed up deliveries, reduce costs, or otherwise shore up operations.

Using highest satisfaction ratings, Tech.co determined the top five technology fixes to be:

• Digital freight matching (89%)
• Routing optimization software (87%)
• Warehouse robotics (86%)
• Fuel/energy reduction technology (85%)
• Driver monitoring & coaching platforms (84%)

Overall, Tech.co’s survey found that 63% of U.S. freight businesses report using some form of tech to reduce reliance on drivers.

The crisis continues, so these tech solutions aren’t the entire answer. But, as US freight companies find their driver scarcity problems keep growing across the second half of 2025, every little boost to the bottom line can help.

Kodiak Robotics, a leading autonomous vehicle company, and Vay, a provider of remote-driving technology, announced a continuing partnership on Wednesday. Vay is currently providing its technology to help power Kodiak’s Assisted Autonomy technology, an element of Kodiak’s autonomous driving solution.

At the moment, Kodiak employees are utilizing Vay technology in certain low-speed environments. The Kodiak technology remains fully in control and sets limits on what the human can do.

The partnership appears to be a promising one, particularly as self-driving trucks continue to roll out in different states across the country. However, it is uncertain whether the technology will be effective in solving many of the industry’s ongoing problems.

Vay Technology Helping Kodiak’s Assisted Autonomy Technology

Kodiak Robotics has been integrating Vay technology within its self-driving trucks, according to a partnership that was announced on Wednesday. Kodiak uses Vay’s remote-driving technology in its ‘Assisted Autonomy’ technology, which allows a human to remotely control a truck in “low-speed, clearly-defined scenarios.” Assisted Autonomy is part of Kodiak’s autonomous driving solution, the Kodiak Driver.

The companies have been working together since last year, when Kodiak’s self-driving trucks started to make driverless deliveries for Atlas Energy Solutions in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.

Kodiak initially began experimenting with remote-driving technology as part of a contract with the US Army in 2022, which needed a system that enabled remote operation in certain scenarios. Since then, the company has developed self-driving trucks and Assisted Autonomy.

“Assisted Autonomy is a hybrid approach that blends remote support with onboard autonomy to create a solution that enables flexibility and safety. Assisted Autonomy, therefore, combines the value of human decision-making with the rigorous safety controls of the autonomous system.” – Kodiak press release

Kodiak Employees Using Technology in Low-Speed Scenarios

While the combination of both technologies allows a human to remotely control a Kodiak self-driving truck, Assisted Autonomy remains active and is able to set limits on what the remote human can do. At the moment, the technology is being used in low-speed scenarios. Kodiak has also assured that all employees have commercial driving licenses and undergo rigorous training as part of using the trucks.

Ordinarily, remote-driving technology is used to support sidewalk delivery robots or self-driving forklifts. Recently, it’s being deployed by robotaxi companies. Vay has made this technology a strong element of its car-sharing business. The startup, originating from Berlin, operates as a driverless car-sharing company that uses its tech to allow employees to coordinate vehicles to customers.

Customers take manual control of the car, drive themselves to their destination, and then the employee pilots the vehicle back when the customer is finished. Vay has recorded more than 10,000 commercial trips.

Kodiak to Begin Commercial Driverless Deliveries in 2026

Kodiak plans to begin commercial driverless deliveries on public highways in Texas, during the second half of 2026, and this continuing partnership with Vay seems like a sure way of getting there. The revelation of self-driving trucks and remote-driving technology could prove to be a big one within the logistics industry. It could even help with the ongoing trucker shortage. 

In fact, a recent Tech.co survey found that 65% of freight professionals expect self-driving trucks to be on the road in the US by 2050. Some even countered this figure, and said the technology could be seen as early as 15 years from now. 

However, there are still be some reservations surrounding self-driving trucks. Significantly, despite positive signs, only a fifth of professionals said they would pick a self-driving truck rather than recruit a new driver.

A new study has found that tech leaders are prioritizing the expansion of AI within their companies for 2025, which contrasts findings that AI adoption may be leveling off in the corporate world.

The main reason leaders are seeking to implement the new technology is related to boosting productivity levels. However, many leaders also expressed concerns for AI’s tendency to make errors, which runs the risk of harming their reputation.

The biggest concern for leaders, though, are connected to privacy and security. Therefore, many are implementing their own measures to ward against this, including ethical AI guidelines and privacy policies. There is also a need for the protection of sensitive information.

AI Expansion Is the Highest Priority for Tech Leaders

The 2025 Reveal Software Development Challenges Survey, released by Infragistics, has revealed that tech leaders are prioritizing the expansion of AI within their companies, with 73% having identified it as their primary focus for the year. 

The study showed that 75% of organizations already used AI for software creation in 2024, and of the organizations who weren’t using the technology last year, 50% plan to this year.

Similarly, those surveyed who are already using AI revealed some interesting outcomes in relation to hiring. 55% of those surveyed reported new job creation, with 63% of those adding as many as 25 new positions. This represents a more positive shift in the AI-job discourse, particularly as some companies and CEOs have shared bleaker statistics when it comes to the future of jobs.

Companies Are Adopting AI to Increase Productivity

As to why companies are looking to adopt AI, the primary reason appeared to be boosting productivity levels using task automation, according to more than half (55%) of respondents. Other reasons include optimizing code (48%), improving diagnostics (46%), testing software (46%) and fixing code errors (43%), among others.

However, whether AI is effective at generally increasing productivity is up for debate. A recent study has shown that AI may make workers less productive, by creating new tasks for them to complete. This is often the case when individuals have to go through AI-generated work and correct or check for any errors.

Those surveyed seem very much aware of AI’s ability to blunder, too.  More than one third (37%) of respondents flagged the risk of errors, bugs, and inefficiencies in AI-generated code, which could largely affect business performance and reliability.

Despite Boost, AI Privacy Remains a Concern

The main concern for tech leaders, however, was data privacy, with 78% of respondents citing it as their top issue. Privacy violations (38%), bias in AI models (37%), and the deployment of AI tools that have not been securely tested (36%) were also top concerns.

“Organizations must implement governance frameworks and technical safeguards to ensure safe, strategic implementation.” – Casey Ciniello, senior product manager at Infragistics.

Issues with privacy reflect concerns about how AI systems are developed and deployed. Many organizations, therefore, are implementing their own methods of combating this issue. Over 60% are implementing ethical AI guidelines, and 59% are issuing formal privacy policies to protect against misuse. 54% are also putting systems in place to protect any sensitive information.

Considering that leading AI company OpenAI has been breached more than 1,000 times, we can’t blame businesses for exercising caution.

Samsara has announced over a dozen new AI products, with many aimed at tackling driver safety on the road.

The features range from reducing driver blind spots to providing real-time weather updates, as well as introducing AI-powered updates to its existing driver app that allows managers to reward truckers who practice safe driving.

As driver safety continues to be a top concern, these tools could lend a hand in promoting a better culture of road safety amongst them. They could also help companies attract and retain drivers amidst an ongoing and worsening trucker shortage.

Samsara Unveils Over a Dozen New AI Solutions, Including Driver Safety Tools

Fleet management software company Samsara has announced a herd of new AI-powered features for its systems, including many that are aimed towards improving fleet safety and promoting safer driving.

Johan Land, Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering at Samsara, thanked the “rapid advancements in AI technology” that have allowed the company to “build new products that are now empowering drivers to make better decisions on the road and equipping safety teams with the tools for faster, more effective feedback.”

One of the features released is an AI-multicam option, giving drivers the option to add up to four additional cameras, all accessible through a single in-cab monitor. The monitor provides a 360-degree view for reducing blind spots and provides real-time updates on hazards such as pedestrians or cyclists. Administrators can also retrieve video footage and audio to help resolve any incidents.

What Other AI Safety Features Has Samsara Announced?

Other than the multicam option, Samsara has introduced Weather Intelligence, allowing administrators to tap into real-time weather data pulled from the National Weather Service to view and alert workers of incoming threats that could impact their driving, such as the risk of fire and heavy rain.

Likewise, a safety coaching feature uses AI and automation to scale driver training and recognition. The AI is able to analyze risky driving events and send these to managers for review, and insight into big picture behavioral trends are provided so drivers can be coached based on their driving patterns.

Samsara’s driver app, too, is set for some upgrades. It will now include TikTok-style training videos that are designed to act as a companion for drivers throughout the day. Through the app, administrators can use recognition tools such as gift cards to reward good driving behavior.

To read about all of Samsara’s new features, check out its blog.

Drivers Are Becoming Increasingly Concerned For Their Safety

According to Fleet Owner, there was a 49% increase in fatal crashes on the road as of December 2024. With these kind of numbers, it is no wonder than driving ranks in the top ten of America’s most dangerous jobs.

Drivers are well aware of the dangers, too. A recent Samsara report found that 93% of drivers had experienced the negative effects of risky driving, such as vehicle damage or personal injury. 79% of drivers also reported that they’d experienced a “close-call” while driving in a distracted manner.

In the report, AI-powered detection systems emerged as the top solution for drivers to tackle road safety issues such as distracted driving, and many drivers thought it could play a role in educating drivers on safety procedures.

The new technology could therefore be highly effective in tackling many of trucking’s safety concerns. Likewise, with the trucker shortage expected to get worse, AI safety features could help companies retain and attract new drivers. According to a recent Tech.co survey, 11.8% of sector professionals are prioritizing staff recruitment and retention in June.

Apple has internally discussed acquiring Perplexity, an AI startup with a search engine and chatbot used by around 15 million people, says a new report.

The tech titan has been slow to jump on the artificial intelligence trend, and has even gotten flack in recent months for delays to its AI rollout on Siri, in addition to delivering underwhelming Apple Intelligence features.

Apple has a market cap of over $3 trillion. Buying its way out of its AI problem makes a lot of sense.

What to Know About the Potential Acquisition

Apple’s head of mergers and acquisitions, Adrian Perica, has discussed the possibility of buying Perplexity with top decision makers including services chief Eddy Cue. At least, that’s according to insiders who spoke with Bloomberg, the publication that broke the news.

The discussions, which are “at an early stage,” might not lead to an offer.

However, there is clear evidence that Apple is eager to develop its own AI-based search engine, which could give its tech devices the layer of AI-powered functionality the company needs to convince consumers that it has its corporate finger on the pulse of modern culture.

Apple’s Biggest Acquisition?

The deal would suddenly look a lot more attractive to Apple if it is forced to end its longstanding relationship with Google’s search engine, in the event of a loss in the Google antitrust trial.

However, a Perplexity acquisition would be a big deal. The AI startup was recently valued at a massive $14 billion. Assuming the deal is anywhere near that number, it would be the biggest in Apple’s history.

In fact, it would more than likely be the biggest by a mile: Apple’s largest acquisition to date was its 2014 purchase of Beats for a relatively paltry $3 billion.

Apple Needs to Catch Up to Meta, Other Tech Giants

Apple’s 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference just wrapped up on June 13. There, the company debuted what Bloomberg terms a “relatively meager slate of new AI enhancements.”

Tech giants are all piling onto the AI hype train. Meta already tried to acquire Perplexity earlier this year, settling instead for a 49% share of Scale AI, which cost the social platform company $14.3 billion.

Samsung already has a partnership in the works with Perplexity, too, potentially complicating an Apple buyout.

However Apple chooses to win over the AI-loving audiences (and shareholders), we can be pretty confident that the company will pay billions to do it.

Microsoft is gearing up for a major round of job cuts at its Xbox division, according to new leaks.

It would represent the fourth round of layoffs for the Xbox gaming division across the last year and a half, and comes in addition to the 6,000 jobs Microsoft already cut in May 2025.

Whether due to AI hopes or tax changes, the widespread tech industry layoffs that first started back in 2022 continue to make headlines and worsen the job market.

What We Know About the Xbox Layoff Plans

Bloomberg has broken the news, out from “people familiar with the plans who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information.”

According to them, Microsoft’s “major layoffs” are coming next week. The publication previously reported that the tech giant is planning thousands of job cuts across the company for next week, and that they’ll “largely” be in sales teams.

No specific numbers have been released about the exact amount of employee who’ll soon find themselves on the chopping block at Microsoft Xbox.

Why Would Microsoft Cut Jobs?

Microsoft tends to make big organizational shakeups near the close of its fiscal year, which lines up with these reports: The fiscal year ends on June 30th.

However, Bloomberg notes that the Xbox division in particular has seen pressure from the company’s C-suite to increase its profit margins ever since 2023, when it bought Activision Blizzard Inc. in a $69 billion deal.

Across the larger tech industry, executives have publicly suggested plenty of other justifications for their seemingly constant layoffs across the past three or four years. Some have mentioned “economic uncertainty,” while others have praised the job-replacement potential of AI.

Tax Provision’s Role in Industry Layoffs

Not as well known, though, is a tax provision from 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which took effect in 2022. It rolls back corporation’s ability to immediately deduct all the costs of research and development, including engineer salaries.

Companies that weren’t profitable or didn’t have cash on hand suddenly had higher taxes, and were forced to reduce headcount.

There are plenty of other factors to consider as well, of course, from recently imposed tariffs to larger federal deficits triggering higher costs of borrowing. Ultimately, it’s a complex situation, even if it’s one that’s admittedly not exactly helped by corporate greed.

If you’re in Austin and you see a Tesla without a driver, don’t freak out; the company’s Robotaxi service officially went live this weekend in Texas.

Full self-driving cars have been a pipe dream for the tech industry over the last few years, but there has been some serious progress in 2025. Multiple companies have autonomous vehicles on the road, and self-driving trucks have even started making trips in different states across the US.

Tesla can now count itself among those making moves this year, after getting its Robotaxi service up and running in a “soft-launch” on Sunday.

Tesla Robotaxi Service Is Live

In what was considered a “low-key” launch by some in attendance, Tesla has officially put its Robotaxis on the road in Austin, Texas on Sunday.

Videos of the occasion were posted all over X, with Elon Musk himself even chiming in to congratulate the AI and the team on a job well done.

“Culmination of a decade of hard work. Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla.” – Elon Musk on X

Elon Musk also joked that the cost of a ride in a Tesla Robotaxi would be “a $4.20 flat fee,” proving that his sense of humor was not lost with the price of Tesla stock during his time with DOGE.

Is the Tesla Cybercab on the Road?

Given the Robotaxi service was paired with the Cybercab, it’s safe to wonder whether or not the futuristic concept car actually made an appearance on the road in Austin this weekend.

Well, we hate to disappoint, but the Cybercab was not part of the launch, and this vehicle isn’t set to enter volume production until 2026. If you were hoping to see the steering wheel-less self-driving car on the road any time soon, you’re out of luck.

Instead, the launch featured existing Tesla models, like the Model Y, that were cleverly equipped with Robotaxi logos.

The Self-Driving Competition

While this was a big step for Tesla in terms of its self-driving car capabilities, the company certainly isn’t leading the pack when it comes to the technology.

Waymo, for example, is operating a fully autonomous operation — dubbed Waymo One — in four different cities, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and yes, Austin. Cruise is another that operates in Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Suffice to say, Tesla has its work cut out for itself when it comes to catching up in the autonomous taxi service game. But hey, at least they’re on the road.

A new bill from the US Senate could clamp down even harder on non-English speaking truckers by requiring full-on speaking and reading tests for proficiency in the language before awarding commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).

The logistics industry has been consistently struggling over the last few years. Trucker shortages and supply chain uncertainty has made it hard to keep up with demand, and there have been virtually no signs of it getting better.

Now, English-speaking requirements proposed by the Trump administration and other GOP senators threaten to make the trucker shortage infinitely more complicated.

New Bill Could Create English Testing Requirements for Truckers

A new bill introduced in the US Senate would create new requirements for a CDL, including the “ability to read and understand traffic signs, communicate in English with law enforcement, and provide and receive feedback and directions in English.”

“Common sense would tell us that anyone driving on American roads, especially those operating large trucks and trailers, should be capable of understanding what the road signs say or how to communicate with police.” – Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas)

The bill is called the Commercial Motor Vehicle English Proficiency Act and, it was proposed by Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), cosponsored by John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi).

The Push for English Proficiency in Trucking

This news isn’t the first we’re hearing about English proficiency in the trucking industry. It’s merely an escalation of a trend that has been gaining traction since the Trump administration took office.

It started in May 2025, when President Trump signed an executive order — dubbed Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers — that directed the Department of Transportation to begin enforcing English proficiency requires more thoroughly.

As a result, logistics agencies began doing just that, with the likes of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) establishing stricter guidelines for English proficiency, including labeling drivers that don’t comply as out-of-service immediately.

How Will English Proficiency Testing Impact Trucker Shortage?

The trucker shortage is poised to cause some serious problems for the supply chain in the coming years, with estimates putting the discrepancy at around 160,000 drivers by 2030.

As you can imagine, creating more obstacles, like English proficiency testing, isn’t going to help much. While specific data isn’t available, estimates put the potential number of non-English speaking truckers as high as 3 million, which would account for 10% of all truckers in the US.

Subsequently, it’s safe to assume that the increasingly stiff requirements in regard to English proficiency in trucking could have a drastically negative impact on the logistics industry, the supply chain, and the global economy.

Add hackers to the list of those who aren’t thrilled with the US insurance business: Google Threat Intelligence Group warns that a new pattern is emerging, and hackers are now targeting US companies in the insurance industry.

Specifically, the concerns are centered on a group of teenagers and young adults called “Scattered Spider” (or UNC3944, or a number of other names).

The group directs its attention at one sector at a time, the researchers say, with indications pointing to insurance companies as their next target.

What to Know About the Threat

John Hultquist, Chief Analyst at Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), told BleepingComputer about their concerns.

“Google Threat Intelligence Group is now aware of multiple intrusions in the US which bear all the hallmarks of Scattered Spider activity. We are now seeing incidents in the insurance industry.” -Hultquist

The specific concerns to keep an eye out for are potential social engineering attempts, likely aimed at help desks and call centers.

What’s Scattered Spider?

According to the US Department of Homeland Security, Scattered Spider is “a cybercriminal group that targets large companies and their contracted information technology (IT) help desks,” with data theft for extortion as its typical MO.

In the recent past, the group had targeted retail operations in the UK, followed by those in the US.

Just in June 2025, two insurance companies have disclosed that they’ve been impacted by cyberattacks. First, Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) says it discovered unauthorized access on its network, but was able to disconnect the affected systems before the issue spread.

During the same month, Erie Insurance suffered business disruptions, and soon said that the outage was caused by “unusual network activity.”

Staying Safe From Cybersecurity Threats in 2025

The Google team recommends keeping role-based indentities and strong authentication criteria such as password resets and multi-factor authentication.

Staying safe when the big threat is social engineering is tough, however: Workers will need to be trained to pay attention at all times for impersonation attempts that might arrive via SMS, phone calls, or messaging platforms.

For threats that target help desks, companies can try to stave off cyberattacks by reviewing how the service initially authenticates credentials before they’re reset. Plus, any process that highlights any logins from unusual sources may be useful for surfacing potential threats before they succeed.