In logistics, supply chains aren’t justphysical—they’re digital. And increasingly, they’re sprawling.

Every partner, supplier, broker, and serviceprovider you work with connects to your systems one way or another. ThroughAPIs. Through portals. Through SFTP servers. Through direct platform access.

And in that reality, here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Your internal security posture could be best-in-class. But one unsecured supplier login can bring your entire network to its knees.

That’s not a theoretical risk. That’s a business reality.

This article unpacks how unsecured third-party access is now the soft underbelly of logistics cybersecurity, why most monitoring tools miss it entirely, and how Titan MDR gives you full visibility into external access—before a credential turns into a compromise.

Let’s get straight into it.

The Reality of Third-Party Access in Logistics

If you’re running a freight-forwarding operation, customs clearance platform, or multimodal transport firm, you already know the scale of vendor dependency.

·      You rely on brokers for cross-border paperwork.

·      You connect with carriers for container tracking.

·      You integrate with warehouse management systems for inventory flow.

·      You grant platform access to 4PLs, visibility providers, payment processors, consultants.


In other words, your network is no longer just yours.

It’s an ecosystem of partners, many of whom have direct or indirect access to sensitive systems, including:

·      ERP platforms

·      Shipment management portals

·      Customs data

·      Order and delivery records

·      Customer contract terms

·      Finance and invoicing portals

But here’s the real kicker: most of these vendors don’t have your security standards.
They’re logging in with reused credentials. From unpatched machines. Over insecure Wi-Fi. Without MFA. And inmany cases, with more access than they actually need.

That’s not “shadow IT.”
That’s your official supply chain.

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Where the Real Exposure Hides

Let’s break down the specific risks introduced by unmanaged or under-monitored third-party access.

Static, Over-Permissioned Logins

Many vendors are given access during onboarding—via generic admin logins, shared accounts, or one-size-fits-all credentials.

But once the project ends, the login oftenremains active. And access isn’t reduced. So what started as a short-term dataexchange turns into a permanent backdoor.

A freight broker granted full access to shipmentrecords last quarter might still be able to download customer manifests today.

And you probably don’t even know it.

NoVisibility Into Login Activity

Most security teams monitor employee loginsclosely.

But vendor access? That’s usually left out ofdashboards altogether.

There’s no alert when:

·      A vendor logs in from a new country.

·      The same credential is used in two geolocationsan hour apart.

·      A low-volume vendor suddenly pulls gigabytes ofdata.

That lack of visibility is your breach window.

By the time you notice unusual activity, the data is long gone—and the liability sits squarely on your shoulders.

MFA Isn't Consistently Enforced

Vendors don’t want friction. They push back on security controls. They argue they’re “trusted.”

So MFA gets skipped. Device checks don’t happen. And passwords become your last line of defence.

But in 2025, any access point without enforced MFA is a live risk.
Because phishing kits, token replay, and credential stuffing attacks are now common and automated.

You might trust the vendor—but attackers don’t need to compromise them.
They just need to compromise their access.

 

What Happens When It Goes Wrong

We’ve seen it firsthand across logistics firms of all sizes:

·      A customs consultant’s shared login getsphished. Attackers use it to access and exfiltrate sensitive shipment data,including HS codes, declarations, and consignee information.

·      A legacy integration account used by awarehousing vendor is still active, even though the relationship ended lastyear. An attacker finds it, escalates privileges, and begins exporting invoiceand routing data.

·      A third-party broker logs in at 3am from anunusual IP. They run a report on high-value shipments scheduled over the next30 days. That data ends up leaked to a competitor.

·      An API key for a visibility platform wasn’t rotated after an employee left. The stale key is scraped, and bad actors inject false data into tracking dashboards—causing customer confusion and brand damage.

These aren’t advanced persistent threats.
They’re preventable failures.

Failures of monitoring.
Failures of access governance.
Failures of visibility.

And in every case, it starts with a “trusted” third-party login.

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Why Existing Tools Don’t Catch the Problem

You might think your SIEM or IAM system is watching everything.

But here’s what we’ve found inside mostenterprise environments:

·      External user activity is rarely segmented inlogs.

·      Privilege changes by third parties aren’tflagged.

·      Geo-based anomaly detection doesn’t account forvendor behaviour.

·      Shared logins and service accounts aren’t tiedto individual users.

·      SOC teams are focused on endpoint and internalthreats, not supply chain access.


Even with all your tooling, you don’t actually know what your vendors are doing inside your environment.

And that’s a strategic problem—not just a security one.

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What Needs to Change

This isn’t about cutting off vendors or adding friction to every external user.
It’s about building layered visibility and response into third-party access—so you can move fast without opening the door to unnecessary risk.

Here’s how modern security leaders are rethinking third-party access.

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External Logins Deserve First-Class Monitoring

Start treating external users like you do your most privileged internal ones.

Every vendor login should be:

·      Logged in real time

·      Enriched with geo, device, and time-of-day context

·      Correlated to access scope

·      Reviewed for behavioural anomalies


If an account that’s typically idle logs in twice in one hour from two continents, you should know.

If a vendor accesses a system they haven’t touched in 60 days, you should be alerted.

It’s not about assuming malicious intent.
It’s about applying scrutiny where access meets exposure.

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Privileges Must Be Proportional and Expire Automatically

No vendor should have access to more than they need.

Period.

That means:

·      Role-based access with expiration dates

·      One-time or time-bound credentials for adhoc tasks

·      Immediate revocation after project end or vendor offboarding

·      Access renewal only after revalidation

You wouldn’t let a temp employee keep their badge after leaving.
Why let a third-party consultant keep their login?

Automation helps here—especially if you're tracking vendor onboarding in a centralised system.

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Behavioural Baselines Are the New Firewall

Traditional firewalls keep traffic out.
Behavioural baselines keep abuse in check.

You need tooling that learns how each external user behaves—what systems they touch, when, how often—and then flags deviation.

That’s the only way to catch:

·      Quiet data leaks

·      Credential sharing

·      Internal compromises

·      Abuse of stale or dormant access

And it needs to happen in real time—not in a weekly audit.

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Titan MDR: Full Visibility Into Third-Party Activity

At LinearStack, we built Titan MDR specifically to address this modern security gap.

Here’s what it delivers:

·      Continuous monitoring of all external login activity across web apps, APIs, cloud portals, and VPNs

·      Real-time alerts on unusual behaviour: location mismatch, session reuse, rapid privilege changes

·      Auto-flagging of dormant accounts used after extended inactivity

·      Session-level access trails—see exactly what third parties did, when, and where

·      Integration with your IAM and access control tools to enforce revocation, privilege reduction, and credential resets


And because it’s built with logistics use cases in mind, it understands vendor behaviour patterns—so you get fewer false positives and faster signal-to-action response.

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Built for Fast-Moving Logistics Operations

We get it—logistics teams run 24/7. Vendors work across time zones. Systems don’t sleep. And speed is everything.

That’s why Titan MDR doesn’t slow you down:

·      Lightweight agentless integrations

·      No-code setup for major cloud and on-prem platforms

·      Custom policies for different vendor types(freight forwarders, customs agents, integrators, etc.)

·      Clear dashboards built for non-technical stakeholders

Your teams stay focused on fulfilment and operations.
Our system watches the doors.

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What Executive Teams Need to Know

If you’re a CIO, COO, or head of security, here’s what you should be asking today:

·      Do we know how many external vendors currently have login access to our systems?

·      Can we see who’s logging in, from where, and what they’re doing?

·      Do we have behavioural baselines on third-party users?

·      Are we alerted when vendors exceed their scope or act suspiciously?

·      Can we revoke access instantly—across all platforms—when a vendor is offboarded?

If the answer to any of those is no, your supply chain is vulnerable.

And the longer that goes unmonitored, the higher the likelihood that breach doesn’t come from a firewall—it comes from a supplier login.

 

This Isn’t a Vendor Problem. It’s a Leadership Responsibility.

Here’s the bottom line.

You can’t outsource responsibility for security—even when the access belongs to a vendor.

If the credentials live in your environment, the risk lives with you.

And that means:

·      Building systems that validate and monitor every point of external access

·      Enforcing least-privilege by design—not exception

·      Using behavioural intelligence, not static rules, to detect misuse

·      Acting fast when something looks off—before a login turns into a leak

Because trust is important. But trust without verification? That’s a breach waiting to happen.

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