- Hackers create phishing attacks for logistics companies
- They then access and redirect shipments to new destinations
- Real organized crime gangs lie in wait to steal diverted cargo
This seems like an obvious evolution of crime in an increasingly online world, but cybercriminals and offline gangs generally stick to their specialties, believing that they require completely different skills.
However, ProofPoint reports point to new attacks involving cybercriminals. work together with traditional real-world OCGs to combine their efforts – primarily targeting freight brokers and trucking companies.
The attacks are very sophisticated, as hackers start by sending malicious links via email to freight organizations, before then deploying remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools, which allow them to reroute trucks or impersonate legitimate goods.
New Age Highwaymen
The use of social engineering directly targets freight brokerage firms and logistics companies throughout the supply chain, allowing criminals to identify high-value shipments and access information about other organizations and associated goods.
Attackers have been observed deleting booking emails and blocking dispatcher notifications, impersonating the targeted company and speaking directly to truck drivers – which appears completely legitimate.
The trucks are then redirected to fraudulent collection points, where the goods are stolen by organized crime groups.
Although the researchers do not suggest any instances of violence, the physical theft committed by OCGs suggests that there is certainly a risk of harm to an unsuspecting driver if the goods are misappropriated.
Cargo theft has been a problem for centuries, so it’s no surprise that criminals are adapting their old highwayman tactics for the modern age.
Cargo theft costs about $34 billion in losses annually, statistics show, but the digitalization of supply chains around the world is exposing goods in new ways, threatening to dramatically increase the number of attacks.
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