- Hackers are creating phishing attacks for logistics companies
- They then gain access and redirect shipments to new destinations.
- Real organized crime gangs lurk to steal diverted cargo
It seems like the obvious evolution of crime in an increasingly online world, but cybercriminals and offline gangs generally stick to their specialties, considering they require completely different skill sets.
However, now reports have emerged from ProofPoint about new attacks in which cybercriminals are working together with traditional real-world OCGs to combine their efforts, primarily aimed at freight brokers and trucking companies.
The attacks are seriously sophisticated, as hackers begin by emailing malicious links to transportation organizations, before implementing remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools, which allow them to reroute trucks or impersonate legitimate cargo.
New Age Highway Thieves
The use of social engineering directly targets freight brokerage companies and logistics companies throughout the supply chain, allowing criminals to identify high-value shipments and gain access to information about other organizations and related cargo.
The attackers were observed deleting booking emails and blocking dispatcher notifications, posing as the target company and speaking directly to truckers, appearing completely legitimate.
The trucks are then redirected to fraudulent collection points, where organized crime groups steal the merchandise.
Although researchers do not suggest that any cases of violence have occurred, physical theft by OCGs does suggest that there is certainly a risk of harm to an unsuspecting driver if property is seized.
Cargo theft has been a problem for centuries, so it's no surprise that criminals are evolving old highway robber tactics to fit the modern era.
Cargo theft costs approximately $34 billion in losses annually, according to statistical estimates, but the digitalization of supply chains around the world leaves cargo exposed in a new way, threatening to dramatically increase the number of attacks.
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