Highway thieves are using GPS spoofing to steal data center cargo

In short: Investigators say cargo thieves are using digital tricks, including GPS spoofing, to steal more than $100 million in data center equipment.

What's going on

NBC News, cited by Ars Technica, reported that since June thieves have taken over $100 million in freight meant for data centers. Data centers are the large buildings full of computers that power online services, and AI systems often run on them.

Investigators say the thefts often start online. Thieves break into freight broker accounts on shipment listing sites, then send trucking companies a malicious link. If someone clicks, the thieves can take over the company’s account and bid on real shipments, like a crook stealing a delivery company’s keys.

Once they control a shipment, the thieves may send a real driver who does not know it is a scam, or they may use fake IDs to place an accomplice behind the wheel. In at least one major case, investigators say the criminals spoofed tracking coordinates. GPS spoofing means faking a truck’s location so tracking software shows it in the wrong place, like changing the dot on a map.

The stolen items are often high value parts, including servers, fiber optic cables, memory chips, copper wire, and bitcoin mining machines. Law enforcement in Illinois estimated one recovered haul included about $300,000 in copper wire and about $1 million in custom data center power equipment.

What to watch

Experts told NBC News that some thefts included attacks on off duty police escorts, and in one case GPS monitoring did not help because the location data was manipulated. Investigators and industry groups are pushing for stronger checks on drivers and tighter account security, and lawmakers are discussing a broader response as more data center construction increases the number of valuable shipments on US highways.

Source: Arstechnica