Gareth Lloyd, Chief Digital & Information Officer at Loxam, has warned that IoT and machine telematics systems could make rental companies vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Speaking during International Rental News鈥� cybersecurity webinar on 4 November, Lloyd said IoT attacks were still relatively uncommon 鈥渂ut should be on the radar of every rental company executive team.鈥�

Gareth Lloyd of Loxam speaking at IRN鈥檚 cybersecurity webinar.

鈥淥nce you connect a machine to the internet you are exposing it to the risks around cybersecurity.

鈥淚oT is an area where there is a huge imbalance between the sophistication of the security protection in the machine and the sophistication of the cyber criminals.

鈥淚鈥檓 guessing that in 99% of devices it is impossible to patch the software or firmware on the machines. You literally have to replace the device.鈥�

He said machines were at risk of being hacked as a way of gaining access to a wider network; to change safety settings on a machine; or to disable machines as part of a ransomware attack.鈥�

IRN鈥檚 cybersecurity webinar was held on 4 November, 2021.

He added; 鈥淭his is a big issue for us as a sector. As we go along with the benefits of IoT, we need to up our game on the security side as well.鈥�

Lloyd was one of three panellists on the webinar, with Guy Dulberger, Vice President, Information Security, Ritchie Bros and Alexander W枚rndl-Aichriedler, Vice President, Palfinger also taking part. The webinar was chaired by Belinda Smart, Editor of IRN.

The full webinar, which discussed many other potential cyber threats and security remedies, .