Thieves use freight account hacks to steal data center equipment

Thieves have stolen more than $100 million in data center freight since June, Ars Technica reported, citing NBC News interviews with industry leaders, consultants and investigators advising law enforcement. Targets include servers, fiber-optic cables, memory chips and power equipment. The scheme starts with compromised freight broker accounts and fake shipment listings. Malicious links let thieves take over trucking companies' accounts and bid on real shipments, with cargo eventually transferred to their own drivers. Tracking coordinates were spoofed in one of the largest thefts. Some equipment has been recovered, but none was found in two of the largest thefts NBC examined; off-duty police escorts were targeted in hit-and-runs.