Businesses are increasingly using email as their primary method of communication as the world gets more digital. Nevertheless, additional risks result from this dependency. Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks are becoming increasingly common and were estimated to cost businesses over $1.7 billion in the past 2 years alone. Thankfully, organizations may safeguard themselves against these threats by taking a few easy actions. We’ll outline the three crucial measures you need to take to protect against BEC in this blog post and explain why EmailAuth’s DMARC service is the greatest defense against such hacks.
Step 1: Train Your Employees on the Risks of BEC.
BEC attacks use deception techniques to persuade staff members to transfer confidential information or wire money to a scammer. Employee education on the dangers these assaults bring and how to avoid falling for them is the first step in guarding against them. Training on how to spot phishing emails, how to confirm the legitimacy of an email or website, and how to spot dubious demands for personal information or money transfers should be part of this. Employees will be less likely to fall for a BEC assault if they get regular training and reminders that these dangers exist.
Step 2: Implement Strong Email Security Measures.
To safeguard your company from BEC assaults, it’s crucial to install robust email security measures in addition to staff training. This involves setting up two-factor authentication for email accounts, encrypting communications to secure critical data, and utilizing spam filters to stop phishing emails. But, implementing DMARC is one of the best steps you can take to safeguard your company against BEC.
Domain owners may safeguard their domains against unlawful usage and email spoofing by using the email authentication standard DMARC. Receiving email servers may confirm that an incoming message is genuinely sent from a domain and hasn’t been changed in transit, thanks to the implementation of DMARC. This aids in the prevention of phishing and other email fraud schemes, such as BEC assaults. Not only can DMARC implementation safeguard your company from BEC, it also contributes to improving email security in general.
Step 3: Monitor and Respond to BEC Attacks.
BEC attacks can still happen despite staff training and robust email security procedures. It’s crucial to keep an eye out for these attacks and act immediately if they do happen. This entails doing routine analyses of email logs, setting up warnings for dubious communications, and putting together a strategy for handling BEC attacks. You can lessen the harm a BEC assault does and safeguard your company by keeping an eye on things and acting immediately when something unusual happens.
Usual Approach of BEC attacks
Here are some common points describing the usual approach of a Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack:
- Reconnaissance: During reconnaissance, the attacker learns about the target company’s personnel, suppliers, and financial procedures.
- Spoofing: The hacker makes a false email account that looks to come from a reputable source, such a CEO, CFO, or vendor.
- Social Engineering: In order to get the victim to do anything, like send money or provide sensitive information, the attacker will utilize social engineering methods.
- Urgency: In order to convey a feeling of urgency, the attacker frequently uses words like “urgent,” “immediate action necessary,” or “time-sensitive.”
- Phishing: The attacker may also send a bogus login page or attachment in an effort to get login information or other sensitive data.
- Diversion of payment: The attacker may ask the victim to transfer money to a different bank account, frequently stating that the first account has been hacked.
- Follow-up: The attacker may get in touch with the victim again to check on the status of the fraudulent transaction or to ask for more money or information.
- Cover-up: The perpetrator may try to hide their actions by deleting emails or fabricating evidence to justify their fraudulent behavior.
The Benefits of EmailAuth’s DMARC.
EmailAuth’s DMARC is the best tool to prevent BEC attacks because it provides a comprehensive solution for email authentication. With EmailAuth, you can:
- Implement DMARC in just minutes: It makes DMARC implementation simple, even if you lack technical knowledge. Just adhere to the detailed instructions, and you may set up DMARC in a matter of minutes.
- Get real-time insights into your email security: Real-time insights into your email security are provided, along with information on DMARC compliance, phishing attempts, and suspicious emails. You can recognize possible hazards and promptly counteract BEC assaults with the use of this information.
- Automatically block malicious emails: You don’t have to be concerned about malicious emails getting to your mailbox because DMARC deployment includes automated filtering of them. This adds another degree of protection for your company.
- Save time and resources: With EmailAuth, you can be up and running in just a few minutes even though DMARC implementation can be a time- and resource-intensive procedure. This gives you more time and resources to concentrate on other aspects of your organization.
BEC assaults pose a serious risk to organizations and have the potential to result in considerable monetary loss and reputational harm. But, organizations may defend themselves from these assaults by taking a few easy actions and putting the necessary tools in place.
First and foremost, it’s crucial to inform staff members about the dangers of BEC and the best ways to protect themselves from such assaults. Second, putting robust email security measures in place like spam filters, two-factor authentication, and encryption can help to safeguard your company. And lastly, reducing the damage brought on by a BEC assault requires regular monitoring for BEC attacks and having a plan in place for reacting to them.
Use EmailAuth’s DMARC solution to safeguard the security of your domain and emails. You can stop BEC assaults, protect your company’s reputation, and guarantee that your emails are sent securely to your customers’ inboxes by deploying DMARC.
Signup today for a free demo.