ISLAMABAD: A Russian cybersecurity company Wednesday disclosed that a new kind of cyber attack widely uses wireless “barcode scanner models” that could expose e-commerce supply chains to cyberattackers.
A report issued by the Kaspersky experts revealed that with global e-commerce sales nearly doubling since 2019 to over USD6 trillion, any disruption or delay in the delivery chain can result in massive financial and reputational losses. To identify possible risks Kaspersky Security Services researchers have examined multiple cyber-attack vectors on warehouse infrastructure, including attacks conducted using various devices in warehouse systems, and have found a new attack vector exploiting a vulnerability in a barcode scanner model from a major manufacturer.
A typical setup has handheld scanners communicating with a base station, which is in turn connected to a workstation or another business system. The main weak point is that there is no authentication between the base station and the scanners.
Kaspersky research reveals that these scanners might serve as an entry point into the warehouse OT network. The attack could be conducted through the scanner’s wireless link.
To enhance security in warehouse environments, Kaspersky experts recommended verifying every new device before it connects to the network, disabling any unused Bluetooth interfaces and enforce strong authentication mechanisms, segmenting warehouse networks so that only essential connections are permitted, promptly applying security updates to both devices and the WMS, while restricting account permissions to the minimum required, and regularly conduct full-scale attack path.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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