The data extortion group World Leaks has just leaked a huge 1.3-terabyte trove of data stolen from US computer maker Dell Technologies Inc.

Dell confirmed a breach earlier, saying that it impacted the company’s Customer Solution Centers platform, an environment designed to showcase product demos.

According to Dell’s statements to media, the lost data was “primarily synthetic,” although they noted their investigation was ongoing.

What’s in the Leaked Data?

According to a report from Hackread.com, the full leak includes 416,103 files, all publically available for download on the official World Leaks website.

The files look like data from Dell’s global network, according to this report, and include employee folders, software tools, infrastructure scripts, backup data, and more.

“Many of the files mention Dell Technologies and its products, such as PowerPath, PowerStore, and firmware for Dell-branded hardware. There are also references to VMware tools, automation scripts written in Terraform, and files linked to system monitoring and internal testing.”

Hackread.com further notes that structured naming suggests this data “is pulled from real corporate systems.”

Upon a quick review, the files don’t appear to contain sensitive corporate or customer data.

Dell is no stranger to data breaches, however: Just last year, we covered a different breach at the company. It reportedly exposed the private information of more than 10,000 employees and their partners, including full names, employee status and internal IDs.

Dell Statement Calls Data “Primarily Synthetic”

In a statement to The Register, Dell stated that the bad actor’s unauthorized access was to the Solution Center, which is “intentionally separated” from customer systems.

“A threat actor recently gained access to our Solution Center, an environment designed to demonstrate our products and test proofs-of-concept for Dell’s commercial customers. It is intentionally separated from customer and partner systems, as well as Dell’s networks and is not used in the provision of services to Dell customers.” -Dell spokesperson

Other outlets including Hackread.com and BleepingComputer reported similar statements. According to the tech giant, the data is “primarily synthetic, publicly available or Dell systems/test data.”

Dell didn’t offer further specifics on how much data was stolen or what ransom may have been asked for.

Will Hackers Skip Ransomware Encryption Entirely?

The self-proclaimed culprit behind the new breach, World Leaks, is the rebranded name of a group once called the “Hunters International ransomware gang” — they’re now skipping the ransomware element of the data-extortion scheme, possibly to streamline the illegal process.

A February report from cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis found that ransomware payments had dropped dramatically between 2023 and 2024: Hackers were paid out a total of $321 million from July through December of last year, compared to $492 million during the same period in 2023.

If this new breach is any indication, however, hackers can still wreak havoc without bothering with the data encryption process that defines ransomware, and they may even get more attention by fully leaking the data online — even if there’s no indication just yet that they’ll actually get the payout that they are after.

Yahoo Japan is all in on AI. The company has ordered all employees to use generative AI, with the goal of doubling productivity within the next three years.

It’s another volley in the battle to see if AI tech can live up to the many promises made by brands like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and ClaudeAI — promises that have been catching a lot of flack recently.

Yahoo Japan has a plan. But is it all in hand or just a bland AI rebrand grandstand? We’ve got the write-up here, so take a scan.

Yahoo Japan Plans to Use AI for Research, Other Tasks

Mandating AI use isn’t uncommon for tech giants these days. Now that Yahoo Japan is joining the crowd, it’s setting some clear expectations surrounding how generative AI tools should be used, and what tasks they’ll be replacing for the company’s 11,000 staffers.

That list includes research, search, document creation and meetings. These tasks, according to the company’s estimates, take up about 30% of employees’ collective work hours.

According to a report from PR Watch, that’s just a start for the company, which further plans to double work productivity over the next three years.

The company is already using an internal AI-powered work efficiency tool, “SeekAI,” for expense settlement and other chores.

Do AI Tools Boost Productivity?

The path towards a 100% productivity gain via AI tools doesn’t seem like an easy one: The types of tasks that AI helps with just don’t add up to a huge part of most employees’ workload.

Plus, the time it takes to doublecheck an AI’s output in order to screen out inaccuracies or hallucinations will count against the total time saved overall.

Some studies back this up, such as a recent one that took a look at early-2025 AI tools’ impact on the productivity of experienced open-source developers. The results? The developers self-reported that they were faster, but in reality were 19% slower when relying on AI.

Companies Continue Boosting Profits Through AI

There’s no denying the big reason why companies are still so focused on exploring generative AI tools to the fullest extent, however: It’s a money saver.

Look no further than a recently leaked report on an internal presentation at Microsoft in which Microsoft’s chief commercial officer Judson Althoff said that they had saved more than $500 million in 2024 by automating their call centers with AI functionality. The same company has also led several rounds of job cuts that have seen thousands of workers lose their livelihoods.

Yahoo Japan isn’t cutting any positions right now. The company may see its productivity soar across the next few years with the aid of generative AI. If it doesn’t, though, the example set by Microsoft might lead Yahoo leadership to consider job cuts instead.

US imports just declined 7.9% year-over-year in June 2025, marking the second month in a row that shipping container volumes have fallen dramatically.

Experts say that tariffs are responsible, and they don’t predict the trend will reverse itself any time soon.

Recent tariff news doesn’t end there. Automaker Stellantis just announced a surprise $2.7 billion net loss for the first half of the year, even though analysts had predicted a profit. Meanwhile, new tariffs continue to roll out. The Commerce Department just announced plans for a big 93.5% tariff on graphite imports from China.

US Import Volumes Are Declining in 2025

In addition to the 7.9% year-over-year drop in June, US import container shipment volumes had previously fallen by 6.6% year-over-year in May.

The analysis comes from a monthly report by industry analyst John McCown recently covered by Transport Topics. According to McCown, this drop in import volumes has fully erased the almost 10% increases from front-loading in April. As a result, US imports overall are down 1.8% YoY for the second quarter of 2025.

Import volumes had grown 15% last year. McCown doesn’t beat around the bush: He attributes the shift to tariff impacts, writing: “The downward turn in 2025 will be due to tariffs and unfortunately there is nothing at present that suggests it will be short-lived.”

“It is now most likely that there will be a decline in overall annual inbound volume in 2025. That will be one of the more striking year-to-year changes in U.S. container volume in the six-decade history of the shipping container.” – McCown

Stellantis Says Tariffs Cost It $349.2 Million

Italian car company Stellantis has revealed its preliminary figures for the first half of 2025, saying that it saw a $2.7 billion net loss across the first half of the year. It attributes about $349.2 million of that loss to the new US tariffs.

A 25% tariff on US car imports was issued in April, which led some manufacturers, like Jaguar Land Rover, to pause their exports to the US.

According to Stellantis, shipments to North America dropped 25% in the second quarter year-over-year, while total sales across that period dropped 10%. The $2.7 billion came as a surprise to some analysts, who had predicted a small profit.

Next Up: Graphite Tariffs

The tariffs are still coming. The US Commerce Department announced last week that it will soon implement a sky-high 93.5% tariff on imports of graphite from China to the US.

The new regulations are a response to a petition from late last year, Supply Chain Dive explains:

“The petition was introduced in December 2024 by the American Active Anode Material Producers, a trade group representing domestic graphite producers, alleging imports from China were benefiting from ‘countervailable subsidies’ and stymieing the growth of U.S. industry, per a January Federal Register filing.”

The US imported graphite worth about $375.1 million from China last year. The Trump administration is also looking into semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and also previously ordered tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The majority of people using AI are enjoying a “moderate to significant” boost to their productivity, a new study has revealed. According to The AI Guide: How the UK is Using AI at Home and Work, 72% of surveyed respondents reported notable productivity gains from using the technology.

The study paints a compelling picture of AI usage in people’s personal and professional lives. Other findings indicate that a higher portion of people are solely using the tech in their leisure time (25%) compared with the percentage of people using it solely for work (15%). The majority of people, however, are using it both at home and at work (40%) and reaping the rewards.

Evidence is piling up that AI can make a sizable difference to its users’ everyday lives. Recently, a Thomson Reuters study concluded that over half of organizations that had invested in AI were seeing a return on investment. Businesses that haven’t yet tapped the technology face a race to stay relevant – or risk getting left behind.

72% of People More Productive Due to AI, Says Report

A new report from Adobe Express, The AI Guide: How the UK is Using AI at Home and Work, reveals that the majority of people who use AI are enjoying “moderate to significant” productivity gains as a result of the technology. Reportedly, a staggering 72% of surveyed respondents observed that AI had given their productivity a big shot in the arm.

To uncover how people are using AI both at home and at work, Adobe Express surveyed 1,000 UK adults. The findings shed light on users’ AI habits, including the benefits that they’re getting from embedding the technology into their everyday lives.

Broadly speaking, AI has had a positive impact on the lives of its users, with respondents noting benefits at home and at work. In terms of barriers to adoption, the majority of participants (31%) cited data privacy concerns as the biggest deterrent.

AI Brings Benefits to Both Work and Home Life, Study Reveals

According to the report, most people who use AI do so to improve their lives both at home and in the office. To be exact, 41% of AI-using adults confirmed that they deploy the technology in both places. Interestingly, a higher portion of users (25%) only use it in their personal lives compared to those who only use it at work (15%).

Of these, almost half of respondents (47%) confirmed that AI saves them up to four hours per week at home, citing use cases such as recipe generation and birthday invitations. A slightly higher portion (51%) claimed that AI is helping them to save money, with a further 25% saving up to £50 per month.

Meanwhile, in the workplace, AI is having a massive impact on efficiency, with 70% of professionals who use the technology doing so to aid with design and content creation. A further 56% are using it for research and information gathering, and almost half (46%) are using it for data analysis.

Case for AI Is Getting Harder to Ignore

Ultimately, the study illustrates that AI is a firmly established presence in both the workplace and at home, and its advocates are enjoying a series of benefits in both environments, with productivity and efficiency among the two biggest highlights.

The findings back up the results of our own study, the Impact of Technology on the Workplace. Our 2025 report shed light on how AI was transforming the modern workplace, with just 15% of surveyed businesses confirming that they had not used AI at all during 2024, compared with 34% the previous year.

With evidence mounting that AI can boost efficiency, lighten employees’ workloads, and ultimately improve on your bottom line, companies that haven’t embedded the technology into their everyday workflows are at risk of being completely cut adrift. And with 73% of tech leaders in agreement that expanding their AI usage is a top priority for 2025, the clock is ticking.

Big tech firms are finally working together on something, with researchers collectively publishing a report about the importance of being able to monitor AI thinking.

The evolution of AI over the last few years has spurred a lot of business-world changes in 2025. While many claim productivity is on the rise, many other experts are warning that the potential risks far outweigh the rewards.

With this report from companies like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, there’s new evidence that the technology has even more risks than we realized.

Report From Big Tech Researchers Outlines AI Concern

In a joint report from researchers at AI companies Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, the experts highlighted the importance of being able to monitor how AI thinks.

More specifically, the researchers expressed concerns that, while AI now thinks in human languages, there is a chance that that could change in the near future without specific safeguards put in place.

“AI systems that ‘think’ in human language offer a unique opportunity for AI safety: we can monitor their chains of thought for the intent to misbehave.” -the report

In addition to being penned by some of the leading AI professionals in the industry, the report has also received endorsements from experts in the field, including the godfather of AI himself, Geoffrey Hinton.

The Risks of AI

If you don’t think that the ability to monitor AI thinking is important, you likely haven’t been keeping up with some of the nefarious behaviors these models have been exhibiting as they grow more advanced.

There are more and more reports of AI models lying to, blackmailing, and even impersonating humans when threatened with shutdowns, leading many experts to believe we’re a lot closer to a serious problem than we realized.

Suffice to say, the ability to monitor how these models are thinking is paramount to prioritizing safety in the long run, and companies need to make a concerted effort to ensure this level of protection in the advancement of their AI technology.

The Importance of AI Regulation

Given the track record of companies like Meta and Google when it comes to developing new technologies, it’s safe to say they aren’t going to properly regulate themselves. From antitrust suits to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the big tech firms have proven they need a regulatory push to do the right thing.

Luckily, there are signs that the law is finally catching up. US lawmakers swiftly struck down the provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill that would ban individual states from regulating AI, opening up a few more lines of defense from unfettered advancement.

Given the infancy of AI technology in 2025, it’s hard to say whether we’ll fulfill the many doomsday scenarios being pitched by some experts. Still, if businesses don’t heed these kinds of warning consistently, who knows where we could end up in the near future?

According to data from Tech.co, Texas is the US state that faces the highest freight demand, but it’s certainly not the only one on the hot seat when it comes to the supply chain.

In 2025, freight demand is steadily on the rise across the country. That would be great, if there wasn’t a persistent trucker shortage that continues to hamper businesses’ ability to meet this increasing demand.

The Moving Goods With Fewer Hands report from Tech.co provides a wide range of insights about the logistics industry, and we’re going to outline exactly how freight demand and trucker shortages are impacting the US, state by state.

Texas Leads US States With Highest Freight Demand

In our data, Texas was the state with the highest freight demand, with 21% of survey respondents reporting significant or slight increases over the past year. Here are how the other states in the top five compared:

• Texas – 21%
• California – 20%
• New York – 16%
• Florida – 14%
• Georgia – 13%

While Texas does represent the state with the largest number of truckers — employing 172,000 individuals across the state in the profession — the trend is nationwide. 63% of US logistics businesses report an increase in freight demand over the past year.

“On the surface, it’s good news. Recent Tech.co research shows that for the vast majority of the logistics industry, there’s more than enough freight demand. However, with ongoing issues including economic conditions and supply chain disruption, it’s a volatile time for the industry, and the increased demand is in danger of stretching some companies to breaking point.” – Jack Turner, Tech.co editor

Trucker Shortage vs Freight Demand

While freight demand is far from a bad thing, it can cause a lot of problems when companies don’t have the bandwidth to keep up. With 84% of businesses operating at near-full capacity in 2025, even a bit more demand could result in some serious drawbacks.

The trucker shortage threatened to make this freight demand catastrophe far worse, too. In fact, we found that 69% of logistic businesses say that driver shortages have impacted their ability to meet freight demand.

It doesn’t appear to be getting better, either. Our survey found that 63% of businesses say that driver recruitment and retention has stagnated or gotten worse in the past year.

What’s Fueling Changes in Freight Demand?

There have been a lot of changes in freight demand over just the last few years, and our data found overwhelmingly that economic conditions (63%) were cited as the primary reason. Here are some of the other factors impacting freight demand in 2025:

• Economic conditions – 63%
• Supply chain disruptions – 48%
• Ecommerce growth – 36%
• Seasonal shifts – 32%
• Policy changes – 24%

While the reasons to do vary, economic conditions like inflation, interest rates, and consumer spending habits are creating the biggest changes in the logistics industry.

In yet another massive backtrack, the CEO of Nvidia has revealed that the Trump administration will allow the tech giant to sell its AI chips to China.

The Trump administration has had quite an impact on the global economy in just a few months. From tariffs tumult to trade with China, the AI industry in particular has seen its fair share of restrictions.

That has changed, though, with the California-based tech firm posting this week that “the U.S. government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted.”

Nvidia Announces H20 Chip Sales in China

As announced in a Nvidia blog post, the hugely prolific tech company has officially secured a deal with the Trump administration that will allow it to sell AI chips in China once again.

More specifically, Nvidia will be receiving licenses to sell the highly advanced and AI-powered H20 chip in China, and according to Jensen Huang, CEO and founder of Nvidia, there are plans for even more advancement.

“I hope to get more advanced chips into China than the H20.” – Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia to MSNBC during a press conference

The announcement is just more good news for Nvidia, who also saw its valuation hit $4 trillion this week, making it the first company in the history of the world to achieve the feat.

Trump Backtracks on Initial China Restriction

In April, the Trump administration announced that Nvidia would be prohibited from selling its advanced H20 AI chips in China, because of national security concerns.

The security threat seems to have abated, though, with the Nvidia CEO making a deal with Trump to make sure the company doesn’t miss out on what China has to offer when it comes to AI.

“It’s so innovative and dynamic here in China that it’s really important that American companies are able to compete and serve the market here.” – Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia

The AI Race to the Top

At the beginning of his presidency, Trump made a point of getting the US in a good position to win the race for AI supremacy with some seriously big investments in the technology.

However, there have been some obstacles that are getting in the way, with representatives in his own party in Texas putting up roadblocks that could hamper the creation of data centers across the state.

Suffice to say, this deal with Nvidia could signal a loosening of restrictions on trade with China, if only because the AI race to the top is going to take a lot more collaboration than we first thought.

AI investments were responsible for a full 64% of all deal value going into US startups across the first half of the year, a new PitchBook report finds.

It’s part of a huge 75.6% increase for the sector during that period, putting 2025 in line to be the second highest year ever for US startup deals. OpenAI’s recent $40 billion round certainly didn’t hurt.

However, it’s a different story for the VCs trying to raise funds: With $26.6 billion raised across 238 funds, the sector’s funds have declined 33.7% year-over-year, continuing a trend from 2024.

$162.8 Billion for US Startups in 2025

The total deal value has hit $162.8 billion across the first half of the year, second only to the same period in 2021, when Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) era saw rock-bottom rates at banks hoping to stimulate the economy.

This time around, the responsible party is one that hadn’t even entered the public consciousness in 2021: Artificial intelligence. Major AI investments have marked the lion’s share of the growth in 2025 so far.

Meta shelled out $14.3 billion for a stake in Scale AI during that time period, and Reuters recently rounded up a host of other AI companies involved in deals that passed $1 billion each: Safe Superintelligence, Thinking Machine Labs, Anduril, and Grammarly.

Why AI? Companies Are Chasing Fast Growth

Speaking to Reuters, Davis Treybig, partner at VC firm Innovation Endeavors, gave some context for the immense draw that AI has over VC investments right now.

“I think it’s downstream of the fact that OpenAI and Anthropic continue to grow at unbelievable rates. […] If there’s even a chance you could see that sort of progress in other domains, whether it’s robotics, protein folding models, world models or video models, then there’s a lot of people who are going to want to invest a lot of money.”

In contrast, US venture capital firms’ own fundraising attempts haven’t been going as well.

Not only did VC funds just raise $26.6 billion overall so far in 2025, but the typical time to close new vehicles has also been increasing, hitting a median of 15.3 months in the second quarter of the year.

The Venture Capital Fundraising Slump Might Be Ending

It’s not all bad news for VCs, though. IPO interest may be on the rise, particularly with sectors that are meeting the political moment, from national security and defense technology to fintech and crypto… and, of course, AI.

AI’s status as the hottest buzzword is continuing to keep US startups high on the hog.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that you’re always hearing about every piece of software on the planet getting new AI functionality: Right now, maintaining AI hype is all the startup industry has.

Mobile robots aren’t being adapted quite as quickly as we thought, according to a new Interact Analysis report that slashes its 2025 market forecast for the technology by a full $800 million.

That leaves room for growth, to be clear: The adjusted forecast is still well over half a billion for that year. However, growth will definitely be slower than expected, with the industry analysis firm Interact Analysis citing tariff impacts as one major reason.

These findings align with Tech.co’s original research, given that our new Logistics Report found just 15% of respondents had adopted warehouse robotics in the past year, a far cry from the 51% who had adopted the most popular tech solution, route optimization software.

Mobile Robot Market Forecast Is Down $800 Million This Year

Lower growth is predicted across every major region, according to the new forecast. The trajectory of the market cap across the next five years will be impacted as well, with increasing reductions across each consecutive year up.

As a result, the new 2030 forecast has dropped down to $15.6 billion, from a number north of $20 billion.

The resulting compound annual growth rate (CAGR) across the next five years is down, naturally, from previous optimistic estimates of 26% to a still-pretty-good 21%.

Why? Tariffs and Slow Warehouse Construction

Interact Analysis cites a few different reasons why it has needed to adjust its initial forecast. The big one are all the tariffs that the Trump administration has levied or increased already this year.

These changes decrease capital investment decision clarity, sparking delays with ripple effects across the industry. In fact, the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty (GEPU) Index hit 430 in January 2025, marking an all-time high that surpasses even the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID pandemic.

Suddenly, large-scale automation investments look a little too risky in 2025. Plus, many robot parts come from China and subsequently cost more due to the tariffs.

Warehouse construction is another constricting factor, since it has slowed in key markets including the US and Japan.

Logistics Operations Pick Software Innovation Over Automation

The new Tech.co survey found that logistics companies are interested in adopting tech solutions to address a shortage of drivers in the industry. However, automation is at the bottom of their list of potential tech — likely due to high costs.

In the last year, 51% of logistics and transport professionals said that they had adopted route optimization software. Other top responses were also software solutions aimed at streamlining and boosting efficiency: driver monitoring and coaching platforms (46%), fleet tracking software (41%), and fuel/energy reduction technology (30%).

The two solutions at the bottom of the list? Warehouse robotics (15%) and autonomous vehicles (10%), the two big forces of automation that the industry is considering.

Still, the survey did find that 63% of U.S. freight businesses say they use some form of tech to reduce reliance on drivers. Mobile robotics are certainly among those tools — but thanks to market forces and new tariffs, they’re not at the top of the pack.

French AI startup Mistral has just launched its latest model. This one’s audio-based, and open source as well.

Voxtral is Mistral’s very first family of audio models. It’s positioned as a B2B service, with its open source code giving developers more control over deployment than similar high-end closed models.

Here’s what to know about the Voxtral model, which currently comes in two variants — Voxtral Small and Voxtral Mini.

Voxtral Small vs. Voxtral Mini

According to Mistral, Voxtral Mini is the cheaper option, while Small is the premium version.

Both models include a range of impressive features including long-form context (32k token context length) and built-in Q&A functions, and they are natively multilingual. Spoken prompts can trigger actions in backend functions, workflows, or API calls.

The company’s official announcement sums it up:

“For cost-sensitive use-cases, Voxtral Mini Transcribe outperforms OpenAI Whisper for less than half the price. For premium use cases, Voxtral Small matches the performance of ElevenLabs Scribe, also for less than half the price.”

Mistral: The Scrappy Alternative to ChatGPT and Gemini?

This isn’t the first time that Mistral has debuted an AI model aimed at undercutting the biggest heavy hitters in the LLM industry. Back in November 2024, we covered Mistral’s new image generation and web search functions — both clearly positioned as ChatGPT rivals.

Now, the new Voxtral model is explicitly taking on Gemini 2.5 Flash. The official announcement even includes a chart that lines up the two Voxtral models alongside Gemini 2.5 Flash and two OpenAI tools, Whisper large-v3 and GPT-4o mini Transcribe.

According to Mistral’s analysis, Voxtral Mini delivers about the same word error rate as Gemini 2.5 Flash for a much lower cost, while Voxtral Small goes the other direction and lowers its error rate in comparison to the Gemini competitor, while costing a fair amount more.

The International Solution

The new models are multilingual — users can speak in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hindi, German, Dutch, and Italian, among other languages — so they’re a fit for international businesses and audiences.

With the AI hype train still steaming ahead in 2025, Mistral is hoping to remain in the center of the pack as an attractive mid-range option.

Its Microsoft investments won’t hurt, either: The AI-hungry tech giant has given Mistral €15 million (or about $16 million) for a multi-year deal that would bring Mistral Large to its cloud computing platform Azure.

Voxtral pricing starts at $0.001 per minute for API calls, although users can download the free version now on Hugging Face, too.

Texas tops the list of the US states that have the largest concentration of logistic companies that prioritize pay increases for their workers.

Not only that, but the Lone Star state is also number one for logistics companies that plan to boost work-life balance, beating the second-place state, New York, by several percentage points.

That’s all according to data collected from a new survey by Tech.co. The full insights are available for download now as a part of the Tech.co Logistics Report 2025.

14% of Texas Logistic Businesses Prioritize Driver Pay and Benefits

According to the survey, which polled hundreds of US logistics owners and managers, 14% of Texas-based logistic businesses self-reported plans to focus on raising wages this quarter.

That marks the largest figures across all surveyed states. It’s even well ahead of the second-place state in this category, Florida, which had 8% of respondents claiming boosting wages was a priority for them in the near future.

Here are all the top states for wage increases in the logistics industry, by how many businesses report that they plan to do so:

1. Texas: 14%
2. Florida: 8%
3. Tennessee: 5%
4. Georgia: 5%

Texas is four whole points ahead of Florida, marking a 50% increase from the number of companies looking to increase wages in the Sunshine state.

13% of Texas Logistic Businesses Are Planning Work-Life Balance Improvements

Similarly, 13% of Texas-based operations in logistics said that they planned on increasing the work-life balance at their operations during the next quarter. Here’s which states had the most operations with those goals at the top of their minds:

1. Texas: 13%
2. New York: 9%
3. Virginia: 5%
4. Illinois: 5%

Once again, Texas is four percentage points ahead of the second-place state. Is everything really bigger in Texas? The results seem to indicate as much.

US Driver Shortage Remains “Critical”

The nation overall is still struggling to retain drivers, which might go towards explaining the companies that are focused on increasing the perks that drivers tend to care about, from work-life balance to the size of their paychecks.

Nearly nine out of every ten freight companies (88%) who report that these workforce limitations pose a “critical, immediate operational risk” say that they have seen recruitment and retention worsen in the past year, according to our 2025 Logistic Report.

Granted, it’s clear that plenty of businesses aren’t focused on boosting wages and maintaining work-life balance — after all, the Texan highs of 14% and 13% that we cited earlier are still low in comparison to the percentage of companies that don’t yet have firm plans to improve worker benefits.

What Are the Top Tactics for Addressing Workforce Shortages?

Increasing wages and improving work-life balance are the top two ways freight companies are hoping to increase driver retention. 56% of companies said increasing compensation and benefits was a key tactic, while another 56% picked work-life balance improvements.

Also on the list are “providing better training & development opportunities” (44%) and “enhancing recruitment efforts” (43%).

Finally, “improving company culture” earned 27% of respondents’ votes, putting it solidly below the four other, more specific tactics. Drivers may want to consider moving Texas, this data indicates, if higher wages and a more balanced work environment are important to them.

Browser extensions are a modern fact of online life. And with good reason – they can help to streamline our everyday computing headaches, enhance the browsing experience (thank you, Ad Blocker), and even reduce eye strain.

It’s because of this that extensions are so ubiquitous today, with a staggering 99% of enterprises featuring at least one on their computer systems, according to the 2025 Enterprise Browser Extension Security Report.

The problem is that these extensions also pose a massive cybersecurity risk. Just ask the 2.3 million Google Chrome users that, this week, fell victim to a sophisticated malware campaign masquerading as a harmless add-on. Especially when the consequences of a breach are so often dire.

Over 2 Million Chrome and Edge Users Tricked by Malware Extension

2.3 million Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge users have fallen victim to a “sophisticated” malware campaign, Idan Dardikman explained yesterday on Koi Security’s Medium blog.

The malware has been spread through 18 different authentic-looking browser extensions, which all bore the typical hallmarks of a legitimate browser extension, including “Verified” badges. Dardikman says it’s “one of the largest browser hijacking operations” he has ever seen.

The extensions in question mimicked the appearance of different productivity and entertainment tools across a range of different categories, including emoji keyboards, weather forecasts, VPN proxies, and more. “Colour Picker Tool – Geco”, for instance, has more than 100,000 installs and a 4.2/5 rating (you can find a full list of the extension IDs at the bottom of Koi Security’s report).

The campaign differed from a typical malware operation in that it actually delivered upon what users were expecting – while flooding their systems with sophisticated surveillance and hijacking tools. Some of the programs that Koi Security investigated even worked as advertised for years before later going dark through version updates.

Extensions Inherently Risky For Businesses

The campaign serves as a cautionary tale – businesses should be wary when downloading and installing browser extensions. The problem is that this is currently not the case.

Extensions are ubiquitous in the modern workplace. The 2025 Enterprise Browser Extension Security Report we mentioned earlier, published by LayerX in May 2025, found that 99% of enterprises have at least one installed on their computer systems, while 52% of organizations run more than ten. Alarmingly, 53% of these installed extensions have “high” or “critical” risk permissions, granting them access to sensitive data.

To make matters worse, these extensions come from a variety of sources – some legit, some less so. LayerX also found that more than half (54%) are published anonymously, while 79% originate from publishers that have only released one extension, meaning that it’s virtually impossible to verify their authenticity.

Growth of AI Add-Ons Could Spell Cybersecurity Disaster

A bad problem could be about to get a lot worse. In recent years, AI browser add-ons have flourished, with more than 20% of surveyed employees using such extensions. Of these, 58% have “high” or “critical” permissions, giving them access to top-level data. As the technology develops and new chatbots emerge, expect this trend to become more pronounced.

This spells trouble. If businesses are to turn the tide on data breaches, which occur at an astonishing rate, a good place to start would be to overhaul how they vet browser extensions. As the Google Chrome case illustrates, individual employees should be prohibited from downloading and installing these extensions.

But companies also need to invest significant time and resources into upskilling their staff on basic cybersecurity practices. And this is a problem at all levels. As Tech.co found in its recent Impact of Technology on the Workplace report, a staggering 98% of senior leaders can’t identify all the signs of a phishing scam. Well-trained employees are crucial to ensuring that rules – such as vetting processes for browser extensions – are adhered to.

The last thing you want as the owner of a logistics business is a staff that doesn’t know what they’re doing. With all the moving parts associated with this industry, hiring employees who are competent at their jobs is vital for long-term success.

That’s where logistics certifications can really come in handy. These programs are designed to provide employees with the information they need to stay safe and work efficiently, but can also help to advance their careers via skill building. And considering that, according to our latest report, 45% of logistics businesses say that a lack of qualified applicants is their biggest challenge, certifications could be a good way to close the gap.

In this guide, we’ll cover some of the best logistics certifications that you can sign up for now, including how much they cost and how they can benefit your business in the long run.

Top Logistics Certifications

There are quite a few logistics certifications that you can choose from to improve your standing in the industry. Click the links below to get some information about each certification, and keep scrolling to learn more about the benefits, costs, and necessity of getting certified in logistics.

• Certified in Logistics, Transportation, and Distribution (CLTD)
• Certified Professional Logistician (CPL)
• Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR-P)
• Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM)
• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP)
• Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM)

Certified in Logistics, Transportation, and Distribution (CLTD)

• Price: $1,075 for members, $1,500 for non-members

This certification is available from the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and its focus is a bit more honed than other options on this list. As you can guess from the name, it centered exclusively on logistics, transportation, and distribution within the supply chain.

The CLTD exam comes in nine different modules, consisting of 150 total questions. You’ll be given 3.5 hours to finish the exam. There are in-person and online options available to take the exam.

Certified Professional Logistician (CPL)

• Price: $225 for members and $375 for non-members

The CPL option is available from the International Society of Logistics (SOLE) and is geared towards advanced professionals with at least nine years of experience.

The exam process is a bit more strenuous; it’s eight hours long, spread across four separate two-hour sessions.

It is a closed-book examination, and you’ll have to pass all four parts to become certified. If you pass only one or two parts, you’ll have to take the entire exam over again, but if you pass three, you are allowed to only take that final part again. There is no limit to the number of times you can retake the exam.

Supply Chain Operations Reference Professional (SCOR-P)

• Price: $3,730 for members, $4,640 for non-members

This certification is also available thanks to the ASCM, and it is globally viewed as a clear standard for supply chain management. It teaches logistics professionals some of the standardized performance metrics in the industry, allowing them to be more effective in their roles.

As you can likely guess from the price, it’s much more in-depth than a simple exam. The SCOR-P certification requires a three-day training course, in addition to an exam at the end to test your knowledge of the course materials.

Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM)

• Price: $1,240 for members, $1,720 for non-members

This is another certification that is available from the ASCM, and it’s primarily focused on providing professionals with more knowledge about inventory management, like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and materials requirement planning (MRP).

The CPIM has an almost-identical exam process as the CLTD, with eight different modules, 150 total questions, and 3.5 hours to finish the exam. Because it’s also available from ASCM, you’ll have in-person and online options, and you can bundle the exam with a course to increase your chances of passing for an additional cost.

Project Management Professional (PMP)

• Price: $425 for members, $675 for non-members

Available from the Project Management Institute (PMI), this certification is geared more towards professionals with three to five years of experience who want to learn how to more effectively lead projects, specifically “managing the people, processes, and business priorities of professional projects.”

The PMP exam is quite extensive, with 180 total questions that participants will have 230 minutes to finish. There are three categories — People, Process, and Business Environment — that the exam will consist of.

Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP)

• Price: $1,420 for members, $1,975 for non-members

Yet another option from ASCM, this certification is a full-on supply chain catch-all, geared towards professionals that want a grander understanding of the supply chain process, from risk and relationships to technology and sustainability.

ASCM is quite consistent with the exam process, as the CSCP exam is quite similar to the CLTD and CPIM exams, consisting of eight modules, 150 total questions, and 3.5 hours to complete the exam.

Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM)

• Price: $495 for members, $725 for non-members

This certification comes from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), and it provides professionals with a widely recognized credential for managing the supply chain.

To acquire a CPSM, you’ll have to take three different exams. The first is called Supply Management Core and consists of 180 questions over three hours. The second is called Supply Management Integration and consists of 165 questions over two hours and 45 minutes. Finally, there’s the Leadership and Transformation in Supply Management section, which consists of 165 questions over two hours and 45 minutes.

Do You Need Certifications to Work in Logistics?

The logistics industry involves a lot of moving parts, which may lead some to believe that certifications are required to be a part of the trucking workforce.

However, the reality is that, while they certainly help, you do not need to be certified to work in the logistics industry. On top of that, a logistics degree also isn’t necessarily required for you to be employed by a business in the industry.

While there are no requirements for certifications or degrees to work in the logistics industry, they will certainly help your chances of getting hired. As with any industry, more qualified individuals are more sought after for open positions, so if you want to get ahead, a certification might be a good idea.

Benefits of Being Certified in Logistics

Getting certified in the logistics business does cost a bit of money, but there are some clear benefits that can improve your professional standing and make life a bit better in the long run. Here are some benefits of getting certified in logistics.

• More job opportunities: Certification isn’t required for the industry, but many companies require certain certifications in order to be considered for upper-level positions.
• Higher salary: Like going to grad school, adding certifications to your resume can lead to higher salaries from your current company, as well as those looking to hire you.
• Improved safety:  The logistics business can be a dangerous gig, and certifications can teach professionals how to be safe and efficient on the job.

It’s worth noting that higher salary could substantially attract more truckers, with 39% of potential applicants noting that low pay is the biggest barrier to entry in the industry, according to the Moving Goods With Fewer Hands report from Tech.co. It’s important to note, however, that a high salary isn’t the only way to attract and retain new talent.

Simply put, getting certified in the logistics industry is the best way to put your career on the right path. By adding these valuable additions to your professional tool belt, you can ensure that the future will be bright, whether it be your salary, your position, or your safety.

How Much Does Logistics Certification Cost?

While there are some clear benefits to getting certified in the logistics industry, the process to do so isn’t free. In fact, some of the licensing tests and certifications cost quite a bit of money, so you’ll want to be sure you account for those costs before making a decision.

As for how much it costs, it can vary depending on the certification. Some tests are as low as $300 while others can cost as much as $5,000 for advanced learning materials to ensure you pass the test.

It’s also worth noting that the certification costs can be quite different depending on whether or not you are a member of the organization certifying you. For a CLTD, for example, you’ll pay only $1,075 per exam as a member of the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM), but non-members will have to pay $1,500 per exam.

If you want to upskill your staff without breaking the bank, check out our guide to the best free AI training courses for logistics professionals.

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.