We have all received those messages. You won a huge cash prize, your distant relative needs financial help, or there’s something wrong with your utility bill—even though you rent and the utilities aren’t in your name. Our favorite is still the Amazon drone delivery notifications. Mass phishing messages are a classic ploy for stealing credentials or securing small amounts of money from a wide audience of victims.
However, a more dangerous form of misleading emails has become increasingly common: business email compromise (BEC). These malicious messages, which target specific individuals and aim to steal large amounts of data or money, are a significant threat to businesses of all industries and sizes.
This blog will help you learn the basics of BEC so you can defend your organization and stay secure.
What Is Business Email Compromise?
Business email compromise (BEC) is a sophisticated type of targeted phishing attack where cyber criminals impersonate trusted individuals or organizations to manipulate employees into transferring funds, sharing sensitive data, or providing access to secure systems.
Unlike traditional phishing, BEC scams rarely involve malicious links or attachments. Instead, attackers use social engineering tactics to create more specific and highly convincing requests, such as paying an urgent bill, helping with a sensitive task, or sending personal info and credentials.
Hackers often pose as executives, vendors, or colleagues, sending messages that appear genuine, such as requests to pay an invoice, change payroll details, or provide confidential credentials. They may impersonate writing styles of certain individuals, register a lookalike email, or even hack into a real email account to send the messages.
How Does BEC Work?
So, where do scammers get all of this information? How do they know how to create such targeted messages and strike at just the right time? There are a wide variety of tactics criminals can use to hack into a company’s systems, which allows them to analyze messages, track data and email patterns, or hack into accounts, but here’s a look at just a few:
AiTM Attacks
Adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM), formerly man-in-the-middle, attacks intercept communications between a user and a legitimate service, allowing hackers to steal login information or manipulate the flow of data in real time. This tactic is particularly effective in breaching accounts secured by multi-factor authentication.
Session Hijacking
By exploiting active user sessions, session hijacking enables attackers to gain unauthorized access to email accounts or corporate platforms without needing to log in again. This method allows them to observe activities or impersonate employees to send messages.
Malware
Hackers often use malware to infiltrate a company’s systems, embedding malicious software that can secretly collect sensitive data, such as login credentials, or monitor internal communications. This enables attackers to uncover valuable details they can exploit to orchestrate their scams.
Why Is BEC So Dangerous?
Every day, hackers are getting smarter, and business email compromise tactics are getting more sly and sophisticated. New technologies and hacking techniques give scammers more options for infiltrating systems, and they’re getting better at doing their homework and crafting believable messages.
However, the biggest reason that BEC is so dangerous is because it relies on a simple fact of life: human error. BEC only works if members of the organization fall for the deceptive messages. That’s why cyber criminals try to create believable requests.
In other words, combatting this danger isn’t as simple as launching additional monitoring or protection software—employees have to learn about new BEC tactics as they develop. They must consistently stay on high alert.
Additionally, BEC can lead to compromised user accounts on other sites where the Microsoft login is used. Many sites use Microsoft Single Sign On (SSO) to authenticate and once the email account is compromised, the session can also be used on any site with Microsoft SSO.
How Can I Defend Against BEC?
Business email compromise is a real threat that can have a huge impact on your business, but it’s not impossible to avoid. These cybersecurity techniques can help you both limit the number of attempted attacks and avoid falling for them when they do occur:
- Set up MFA on all email accounts using phishing resistant methods
- Strengthen endpoint security
- Implement strong encryption on all business communication
- Install secure email gateways (SEGs) and other spam filters
- Use an identity threat detection and response (ITDR) framework to address attacks promptly.
- Train employees to identify fake messages. Teach them to double-check email addresses and links, keep an eye out for unusual or urgent requests in emails, and be wary of sending money or sensitive information over email.
These safeguards will help you mitigate the risks of BEC and keep your business’s data and operations safe and secure.
Don’t Compromise Your Security
In a world full of business email compromise, sophisticated cyberattacks, and ever-growing threats, you can’t afford to be without comprehensive, effective protection.
When you partner with Run Networks for your cybersecurity, you can always count on high-quality solutions that are tailored to your business and the current risks you face. Your safety and success are our top priority, and our service will always reflect that.
Send us a message to learn how Run Networks can strengthen your cybersecurity.
