What is Business Email Compromise?
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a form of email fraud that targets businesses and organisations. It is a sophisticated scam that involves sending malicious emails that look like a legitimate email from a trusted source to employees in an attempt to gain access to sensitive information or money. BEC scams are becoming increasingly common, and they can cause significant financial losses for businesses if not addressed quickly.
For example, it might be sent to somebody in your company with an urgent update about your payroll account or payment details. The emails will typically ask you to verify important information so that your previous transactions can be processed efficiently.
In this article, we will discuss what BEC is, how it works, and how you can protect your business from these email security threats. We will also look at some of the most common types of phishing scams used by attackers in order to gain access to corporate accounts or funds. Finally, we will provide tips on how you can better protect yourself against these types of attacks.
How does BEC work?
Business email compromise (BEC) attacks typically involve hackers impersonating a company's executive or employee in order to trick other employees or customers into providing sensitive information or transferring money to the attacker. The attackers may use a variety of tactics to achieve this, such as:
- Phishing: Sending fake emails that appear to be from legitimate sources in order to trick recipients into providing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links.
- Spoofing: Creating fake email accounts or websites that mimic legitimate ones in order to gain access to sensitive information or trick people into transferring money.
- Social engineering: Using psychological manipulation to trick people into providing sensitive information or taking actions that they wouldn't normally take.
- Malware: Sending emails with malicious attachments or links that, when clicked, infect the recipient's computer with malware.
Once the attacker has gained access to a company's email system or has tricked an employee into providing sensitive information, they can use this access to send fraudulent emails or transfer money to their own accounts. These attacks can be difficult to detect and can have serious consequences for the victim company.
What are the types of BEC attacks?
There are several different types of business email compromise attacks, including:
- CEO Fraud: This type of attack involves hackers impersonating a company's CEO or other executive to trick employees into transferring money or providing sensitive information.
- Invoice Scams: Hackers send fake invoices to a company's accounts payable department, requesting payment to a fraudulent account.
- HR Scams: Hackers impersonate HR employees and send fake job offers or request sensitive information from job applicants.
- Vendor Scams: Hackers impersonate a company's vendors and request payment to a fraudulent account.
- Phishing Attacks: Hackers send fake emails that appear to be from legitimate sources, tricking recipients into providing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links.
The potential risks of these attacks include financial loss, data theft, and damage to a company's reputation. Business email compromise attacks can also lead to additional cyber threats, such as malware infections and ransomware attacks.
How to protect against BEC attacks?
There are several steps you can take to protect against BEC attacks:
- Use strong, unique passwords for all business accounts.
- Enable two-factor authentication on all business accounts.
- Use an email security service to filter out suspicious emails.
- Train employees to be cautious of unexpected or unusual emails, especially those that request sensitive information or money transfers.
- Set up alerts for unusual account activity, such as unexpected login locations or large money transfers.
- Use secure, encrypted channels for communication and file sharing whenever possible.
- Implement strict access controls to prevent unauthorized access to business accounts and systems.
By following these best practices, you can help protect your business against BEC attacks and other cyber threats.