RMM cargo theft campaign activity tracked by Proofpoint shows cybercriminals compromising trucking carriers and freight brokers to steal physical shipments at scale. Industrial Cyber reports that threat actors use phishing emails, thread hijacking, and fraudulent load board listings to convince logistics companies to install remote monitoring and management tools such as ScreenConnect, SimpleHelp, PDQ Connect, Fleetdeck, N-able, and LogMeIn Resolve. Once those tools run, attackers gain full remote access to dispatch and back-office systems, harvest credentials, and impersonate legitimate carriers to bid on cargo loads that they never intend to deliver. RMM cargo theft campaign operations bridge cyber intrusion and real-world theft, aligning with organized crime groups that understand the nuances of the transportation industry. Over nearly two dozen observed campaigns since mid-2025, attackers targeted both small family-owned carriers and large asset-based fleets, looking for any foothold that provides visibility into high-value freight. By abusing signed RMM installers and legitimate remote access workflows, the actors evade many traditional security controls and blend into normal IT administration patterns, making detection difficult for teams that do not tightly govern which remote tools are allowed inside their environments. RMM cargo theft campaign mitigation requires logistics, supply chain, and transportation organizations to treat remote access software as a privileged capability rather than a convenience. Companies should restrict RMM installation to a small set of approved tools, block executable and MSI downloads from untrusted email links, and implement network-based detections for command-and-control traffic associated with unmanaged remote access products. Close collaboration between security operations, dispatch teams, and load board administrators can help identify fraudulent postings, suspicious bidding behavior, and booking anomalies before physical cargo leaves the warehouse under the control of cyber-enabled thieves.
🎯CORTEX Protocol Intelligence Assessment
Business Impact: RMM cargo theft campaign tactics convert email and remote access compromises into millions of dollars in stolen physical goods, directly impacting revenue, insurance exposure, and customer trust across the logistics and transportation ecosystem. Disrupted shipments and fraudulent loads can cascade through supply chains, creating operational delays and contractual penalties for shippers and carriers alike. Technical Context: The threat cluster chains social engineering, RMM deployment, and credential harvesting to gain persistent access to freight booking systems and load boards. By relying on signed, legitimate remote monitoring tools instead of bespoke malware, the actors sidestep many antivirus and network controls, emphasizing the importance of strict application allowlisting, behavioral detections, and careful vetting of remotely installed software in operational environments.
⚡Strategic Intelligence Guidance
- Establish an approved list of RMM and remote access tools, enforcing application control policies that block installation and execution of any unvetted remote software.
- Tune email security and user training programs specifically for load board workflows, highlighting the risks of clicking freight-related links or attachments from unknown senders.
- Deploy network detections and threat intelligence feeds focused on RMM server connections, flagging outbound traffic to infrastructure not associated with sanctioned support providers.
- Coordinate with logistics, compliance, and insurance stakeholders to create incident playbooks that address both cyber compromise and potential physical cargo theft scenarios.
Vendors
ProofpointScreenConnectSimpleHelpPDQ ConnectFleetdeckN-ableLogMeIn Resolve
Threats
RMM-enabled cargo theftRemote access abuse
Targets
Trucking carriersFreight brokersLogistics companiesSupply chain providers
Impact
Data Volume:Nearly two dozen campaigns observed