Cyber security strategies are seeing more businesses move to specialist fleet software in order to protect sensitive data, FleetCheck is reporting.

The need for more sophisticated digital strategies means there is a shift away from fleets using general purpose software such as spreadsheets towards dedicated products, explained managing director Peter Golding.

He said: “Over the last year, we’ve seen an increasing number of new customers come to us and adopt our software as a direct result of the introduction of comprehensive corporate cyber security strategies.

“The most well-known of these is probably the Cyber Essentials certification scheme from the National Cyber Security Agency, which aims to introduce protections against common types of cyber attacks, and is increasingly being used by organisations operating vehicles.

“From a fleet point of view, this is a very positive development. Businesses running cars and vans hold all kinds of sensitive data – including driver personal details – and there need to be measures in place that ensure a high degree of resilience against malicious parties.”

Peter said that specialist fleet software tended to take into account the specific potential cyber security weaknesses of fleets and provide appropriate protections.

“Most business coming to us for fleet software who are in this position will have been using some kind of general purpose software tool such as a spreadsheet. Now, most well-known spreadsheet packages have a reasonable degree of cyber security build in, but they are not as sophisticated in their approach to protecting fleet data as a specialist product.

“Fleet cyber vulnerabilities – like any specialist area of business – tend to be quite specific. Organisations such as ours know from years of experience where potential weaknesses may lie, and the kinds of issues that occur when it comes to vehicle operations. We have developed strategies over time that have proven highly effective and are regularly updated.

“Certainly, we’ve been highlighting for many years that fleets shouldn’t rely on general purpose software such as spreadsheets simply because they are not particularly useful tools for fleet management, but it appears that it is the question of security rather than effectiveness that is starting to gradually drive them out of use.”