Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks increased by 45% at the end of 2016.
New statistics from proofpoint a UK security vendor show that BEC attacks have increased and become more sophisticated.
BEC, also known as CEO Fraud and Whaling tricks members of staff into transferring money outside of the company by spoofing the email addresses of company CEOs
They also target HR staff to gather confidential tax information and employee data.
Social engineering is used to rush the target employee so they have less time to think about what they’re doing.
Manufacturing, retail and technology sectors are prime targets as they often have more complex supply chains, meaning staff are less likely to be aware of all valid transactions and vendors.
In 2015 Ubiquiti Networks, a manufacturer of high performance network equipment, announced that it had been the victim of a BEC attack which had cost them $39 Million!
The average payout for a BEC attack is $140,000 compared to under $1000 for a typical ransomware attack, with this difference it’s increasingly likely that most ransomware attacks will transition into BEC attacks in the near future.
Ensure your computers are protected with the best Antivirus and Malware protection to identify these emails before they are acted upon.
