The future of transport is being rewritten by digitalisation, autonomy, and electrification. These forces promise safer, cleaner, and more efficient movement of people and goods,  but they also bring new vulnerabilities. That’s why we partner with leading organisations like PwC to explore the challenges and opportunities that come with digital transformation. This guest article, from PwC, who we partnered with to deliver our Digitalisation in Transport event, examines how cyber security and resilience must evolve as transport systems become more connected and autonomous.

The transport sector is undergoing a profound transformation. Digitalisation, autonomy, and electrification are redefining how we move people and goods, creating opportunities for efficiency, safety, and sustainability. Yet with these advances comes a new wave of cyber risks. At this year’s Digitalisation in Transport Event (September 2025), delivered in partnership with the Cyber Innovation Hub, experts examined how these shifts are reshaping the way transport systems must be secured.

Emerging technologies and improved connectivity have increased digital attack vectors, broadening the attack surface. Geopolitical tensions have raised the risk of state-sponsored cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, while financially driven actors use ransomware to target transport organisations during vulnerable periods. Hacktivist campaigns and complex supply chains further complicate threat containment for operational facilities.

PwC’s Digital Trust Insights Survey 2025 reflects these concerns, with 64% of transport and infrastructure executives reporting that reliance on third parties has significantly increased their exposure to cyber risk.

As the industry moves towards fully autonomous or “dark” transport operations, the scale of the challenge grows even further. The volume of data being generated is many times greater than in traditional systems. Increased autonomy places critical safety functions in the hands of connected networks. Meanwhile, the shift to electrification is not just altering vehicle platforms but transforming energy demand, grid management, and supply chains in ways that ripple far beyond transport itself. This was reflected in points made by our expert panel regarding their recent experiences.

These developments concentrate risk, demanding that resilience be treated as a design requirement rather than a bolt-on. It is a reality borne out in PwC’s survey findings, which show that 72% of organisations expect a rise in attacks against operational technology and IoT systems within the next two years.

One of the most pressing examples of this challenge is the rapid deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. On the surface, EV charging appears straightforward, but in practice it represents a highly complex ecosystem. Charging networks rely on secure data flows, integration with renewable energy sources, cloud systems, mobile applications, payment platforms, and even vehicle-to-grid services. Each of these connections introduces potential vulnerabilities, and because commercial EV supply equipment is by design highly connected, any breach could cascade across energy and transport networks simultaneously.

Maritime transport presents another lens on the issue. PwC’s work with vessel operators has revealed a range of critical vulnerabilities linked to legacy systems now exposed through greater connectivity. Their findings illustrate the urgency of embedding secure-by-design principles and maintaining vigilant monitoring of assets throughout their lifecycle

The lessons for the wider sector are clear. The journey to digitalisation inevitably exposes more assets in new ways, and addressing those exposures demands investment and foresight. Designing systems securely from the outset is far more effective than attempting to remediate once vulnerabilities have already been embedded. And because transport systems often remain in service for decades, cyber security must be continuously managed to withstand not only today’s threats but those on the horizon, including the disruptive potential of quantum computing. Undertaking incident response exercises can be an important part of an organisation’s readiness and resilience for cyber-attacks. During the event, the Cyber Innovation Hub presented on how their immersive testbeds can help organisations undertake appropriate incident response exercises. Staff from the Hub also discussed the range of training courses that they can offer to organisations, with a particular focus on operational technology complemented by the hands-on testbeds.

Encouragingly, PwC’s Digital Trust Insights Survey 2025 shows that 69% of transport leaders plan to increase spending on resilience and incident response capabilities over the next year, signalling that the industry is beginning to rise to the challenge.

The future of transport is undeniably digital, autonomous, and connected. To realise its full potential, cyber resilience must become a cornerstone of innovation. At PwC, we are working with organisations across aviation, maritime, automotive, rail, and beyond to ensure that security is built in, not bolted on.

If your organisation is seeking to embed resilience and secure innovation across its operations, we invite you to connect with PwC’s Cyber Security team. Together, we can help ensure that the promise of digitalisation in transport is delivered safely, securely, and sustainably. For all your cyber security training and incident response exercising requirements, please contact Cyber Innovation Hub.

As PwC’s analysis makes clear, cyber risk is no longer an add-on issue for transport — it’s central to resilience, safety, and trust. The complexity of digital systems, from EV charging infrastructure to autonomous vehicle networks, demands a proactive, secure-by-design approach.

At the Cyber Innovation Hub, we help organisations put these principles into practice. Through our immersive testbeds, incident response exercises, and flexible training programmes, we enable teams to prepare, adapt, and thrive in the face of disruption.

Want to explore how we can support your organisation? Get in touch with us