According to the FBI Crime Complaint Center, there were nearly $51 billion in exposed losses last year due to business email compromise (BEC). This number has continued to increase throughout previous years, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Cyber threats are continuing to evolve, so it is crucial that your organization is knowledgeable of the risks that you may face in a BEC attack.
Knowledgeable Employees
Ensuring that your employees are educated and can recognize a threat when it arises is one of the most important ways to protect your company against BEC. For example, if an employee in your finance department receives an email from a client requesting to change wire transfer information, make sure that the employee recognizes the email as a red flag. Although it may seem obvious, it can be overlooked when employees get busy working against deadlines.
Monitoring for Anomalous Behavior
BEC threats mimic normal user behavior, and this is why they can be so dangerous. With the rise of remote work, companies increasingly rely on cloud services like Microsoft® Office 365®, which places data in a complex environment often lacking adequate protection. Once threat actors gain access to Office 365, reaching sensitive data becomes alarmingly easy. Traditional perimeter security tools like firewalls struggle to monitor suspicious activity within cloud-hosted applications such as Office 365, SharePoint, or OneDrive. If a cybercriminal bypasses perimeter defense and obtains user credentials, it becomes very difficult to detect threats that appear as normal activity.
IT Security Staff
Becoming immediately aware of suspicious activity as it appears is crucial. Unfortunately, many businesses lack the resources to assign staff for round-the-clock monitoring of their environment. If an alert is triggered at 1 a.m., the delay until someone notices and comprehends it could determine whether the business can defend itself or suffer catastrophic damage. Managed threat detection and response services serve as a valuable force multiplier, particularly for organizations unable to maintain continuous 24/7 monitoring of their environment.
Having a knowledgeable security staff that is constantly monitoring for anomalous behavior and is always available when you need them is vital in preparing your organization against BEC. At CRC Data Technologies, our employees possess the necessary tools and experience to effectively combat BEC, give us a call today to ensure that your organization is protected.
