Business Email Compromise (BEC) is rapidly emerging as one of the most financially damaging online crimes. According to the 2022 FBI Internet Crime Report, BEC scams have led to staggering losses, amounting to over $2.7 billion.

BEC attacks typically involve cybercriminals impersonating executives or trusted partners to trick employees into transferring funds or sensitive information.

As these schemes grow more sophisticated, the need for robust defenses becomes more critical. This is where EB Control steps in – offering a comprehensive solution to protect against BEC threats.

Understanding BEC and Its Impact

BEC is a sophisticated scam that often starts with email account compromise.

Through social engineering or advanced hacking techniques, attackers gain access to business email accounts and use them to request transfers of funds or confidential data.

These attacks can have devastating effects on businesses – from financial losses to reputational damage. 

Why Traditional Security Measures Fall Short

 In the battle against Business Email Compromise (BEC), traditional email security measures often prove to be insufficient.

Spam filters, while effective against general email threats, struggle to identify the meticulously crafted and seemingly legitimate emails used in BEC schemes.

These emails often bypass filters due to their lack of typical spam characteristics and their sophisticated impersonation of trusted contacts.

Basic encryption protocols, though securing email content in transit, fail to authenticate sender and receiver identities or verify the integrity of the message upon receipt. This becomes a critical flaw when attackers compromise legitimate email accounts or skillfully spoof addresses.

The situation is exacerbated by attackers’ use of advanced social engineering tactics. They exploit in-depth knowledge of company hierarchies and operations, making their fraudulent communications highly convincing.

Traditional security solutions also fall short in contextual analysis – they might not flag unusual requests like urgent wire transfers if they appear to come from senior executives or familiar vendors.

This oversight highlights another limitation: an overreliance on user vigilance. Even the most cautious employees can be deceived by the authenticity and urgency crafted in BEC attacks.

Additionally, conventional methods are vulnerable to insider threats, where authorized individuals within an organization are compromised.

Lastly, the dynamic and evolving nature of BEC tactics often outpaces the update cycles of traditional security systems, allowing new forms of attacks to slip through undetected.

This complex array of challenges demonstrates the need for more advanced, multifaceted solutions like EB Control, which are specifically designed to counter the sophisticated nature of BEC and similar cyber threats. 

How EB Control Fortifies Against BEC

EB Control addresses the BEC threat head-on with its advanced security features:

1. End-to-End Encryption: EB Control encrypts data directly on the user’s device, ensuring that sensitive information, whether at rest or in transit, is always secure. This means that even if an email account is compromised, the content of the messages remains inaccessible to unauthorized users.
2. Zero-Trust Data Architecture: At the core of EB Control is the principle of “never trust, always verify.” This approach is crucial in combating BEC, as it eliminates implicit trust. Every request for data or transfer within EB Control requires strict verification, drastically reducing the risk of BEC fraud.
3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): EB Control’s integration of MFA adds an extra layer of security. Even if a cybercriminal gains access to an email account’s password, they would still need to bypass the additional authentication factors, making unauthorized access exponentially more difficult.
4. Data Rights Management (DRM): With EB Control’s DRM capabilities, organizations can set strict controls on who can access and what can be done with sensitive data. This feature can prevent the unauthorized sharing or transfer of critical information, a common target in BEC scams.
5. Regular Security Updates and Training: EB Control not only provides a technical defense but also supports regular updates and training sessions. These sessions educate employees about the latest BEC tactics and how to recognize potential threats.
6. Geofencing: EB Control’s geofencing capabilities allow users and organizations to restrict access to their data based on geographical location. This feature is particularly useful in preventing BEC attacks originating from or routed through high-risk areas or countries known for cyber fraud.
7. Time-fencing: Alongside geofencing, EB Control incorporates time-fencing, which restricts data access to predefined time windows. This measure adds an additional layer of security by ensuring that access attempts outside of usual business hours – a common indicator of suspicious activity – are automatically blocked or flagged for review. 

The rise of Business Email Compromise poses a significant threat to organizations globally.

With EB Control’s advanced security features like end-to-end encryption, zero-trust architecture, geofencing, time-fencing, MFA, and DRM, your organization can significantly bolster its defenses against these sophisticated scams.

Trust No One! 

In the fight against BEC, having a tool like EB Control is not just an advantage; it’s a necessity.

Protect your organization from the ever-present threat of BEC with EB Control – where security is not just a feature, but a commitment.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from EB Control authored by Lars Nyman. Read the original post at: https://ebcontrol.io/blog-post/the-rise-of-business-email-compromise-and-how-to-protect-your-organization/