In the world of online business, it’s safe to say that hackers never take the day off. These virtual con artists go out of their way to constantly evolve and adapt as they adjust and tweak their tactics to infiltrate even the most secure of businesses.
While a great deal of information regarding cybersecurity highlights concerns about ransomware, Business Email Compromise (BEC) has often flown quietly under the radar, despite causing significant financial losses.
BEC is a term used for a scam where criminals send an email message from a known source, making what seems to be a genuine request.
For example, a financial director could receive an email from the CEO of their firm requesting that the finance department transfer a sum of money over to a vendor for computer equipment. As everything seems to align with the business strategy, the transaction is completed, and the scam is only noticed after it’s too late.
How does the scammer gain access to the information needed? Well, the process may look a bit like this:
As you can see, every business needs to be at the top of its game to ensure it doesn’t fall victim to a scam like this one.
The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center put out a report in May 2022 showing an alarming rise in BEC attacks. From July 2019 to December 2021, the losses from these attacks rose by 65%, and they now make up 35% of all cybercrime losses globally. These attacks have affected corporations of all sizes and industries in 177 countries. The BEC threat actors are constantly improving their tactics and are currently the largest threat that security researchers aren't talking about.
The internet is a wonderful invention, but it can be a dangerous one too. Even with just bare basic skills, personal details are available at the drop of a hat and, it hasn’t taken hackers long to piece the puzzle together.
Here are our top five tips on how to protect your business:
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