How to protect against the growing threat
Business email compromise attacks (BEC) are becoming increasingly popular, with studies showing that instances of such an attack rose by over 81% in 2022 and 175% over the past two years. This type of attack is launched when cybercriminals attempt to trick employees into clicking on malicious links or transferring funds into fake accounts. The premise is similar to a simple phishing attack. However, during a BEC, the threat-actor targets an individual or business department (usually finance) and then impersonates a company’s supervisors or executives, to increase their chance of success. This is because in many cases, employees will be more likely to react to an ‘urgent’ request from a higher-ranking colleague and are less likely to check for legitimacy.
Recent research has shown that the average email opening rate for text based BEC emails were 28% last year, with 15% of corporate employees even responding. More concerning is the lack of reporting of these kinds of attacks. Only 2% flagged suspicious emails to the responsible parties, which could be down to employees not being aware of the tell-tale signs of malicious actions or simply being unaware of the consequences such an attack could have. Seemingly harmless emails could lead employees to transfer thousands of euros or dollars straight into a threat-actor’s account or assist them in taking over the company network by sharing a virus in an attachment.
Download the paper and learn more on the following:
- Different BEC type to look out for
- How to spot BEC Attacks
- How to prevent these
- What to do if you are exposure to a BEC Attack
What Obrela can do for you to help you protect your business!
