Exposure to mail attacks on the rise
In mid-June, the FBI once again revised upwards its estimates of the global losses caused by attacks involving compromised business email (BEC). The total should now be 3.1 billion US dollars. According to the FBI, the losses recorded have increased by an alarming 1300 percent since January 2015.
Since January 2015, detected losses initiated via bogus business emails have increased by 1300 percent. Victims in more than 100 countries were affected. The FBI therefore wants to warn IT security teams. Especially high executives would be affected more and more. Not only because of financial losses: Now it would be urgent to take the cyberattacks seriously.
Targeted attacks
It is becoming increasingly clear that the sending of fraudulent business emails or impostor emails is taking on high proportions. Nevertheless, according to a report by proofpoint on the topic of "wire transfer phishing, impostor fishing and CEO phishing", it must be assumed that fraud emails are being sent in a highly targeted manner.
Depending on the attack, only a very small number of mails would be delivered to specific individuals. The need to protect even small businesses from BEC has never been greater. It is therefore even more important that companies implement different defense mechanisms that include special technologies, training and processes to avoid BEC attacks as much as possible.
Security programs recommended
Email security solutions allow fraudulent emails to be detected dynamically before they are sent. Tools that classify mail save critical time, eliminating the need for administrators to create and maintain lists that store users, potential email content and other static data.
Such tools offer increased security - without increasing the administrative burden. Because as we all know, hackers never take a holiday.
Information and concrete tips on how to counter the threat of BEC are available at www.proofpoint.com/us/bec-tips
