Ransomware may be the number one cyber threat but there is another, newer cyber attack that is not being talked about enough. This threat can result in the loss of millions of dollars for companies who are affected by it and lead to the complete shutdown of their email systems – Business Email Compromise.

We are happy to share some information from our partners at Pronto Recovery about BEC attacks and how you can protect your business.

Business Email Compromise or BEC is an exploit in which the attacker gains access to a corporate email account and spoofs the owner’s identity to defraud the company or its employees, customers or partners of money. Unlike the typical phishing attacks that target everyone, BEC specifically targets high level business executives such as the CFO or corporate attorney to initiate a wire transfer.

BEC scams have three main versions:

  1. The Bogus Invoice Scheme: this scheme involves a business that has an established relationship with a supplier. The attacker then requests a wire transfer for invoice payment to an fraudulent account via spoofed email, telephone, or fax.
  2. CEO Fraud: in this scheme, the attacker pretends to be a high-level executive or attorney who requests a wire transfer to be initiated with instructions to urgently send funds to their bank.
  3. Account Compromise: in this version, an employee’s email account is hacked and then used to make requests for invoice payments.

And though not as common as the typical phishing email, an FBI announcement in 2017 confirmed that between October 2013 and December 2016, organizations across 131 countries suffered as many as 40,203 successful BEC attacks which cost them upwards of $4 billion in total.

Protect your business

Pronto provides global business continuity solutions including an Alternate Email and Communications solution that allows companies to remain resilient in the face of a BEC or other cyber-attack. We work with you to provide a custom back-up communications plan for your email systems and designate specific email addresses on a new temporary domain that can be used until corporate email has been restored.

Our customizable solution includes:

  • Alternate email addresses to maintain communications in the event of a compromise
  • Ready-to-use computers installed with all necessary software including Office 365
  • Skype for Business and Microsoft SharePoint
  • Migration of temporary data as well as forwarding of temporary domains back to primary domain once corporate email has been restored

Pronto also offers testing services and can provide custom solutions based on your recovery and continuity needs. Through our partnership with Imagit Inc, we are able to offer comprehensive support for your business technology needs in times of disaster. In addition to our technology quick ship service, we also partner with the industry leader in workplace recovery to offer flexible alternate workspace locations, utilizing a network of over 3,000 office spaces in 120 countries.

Our team works with you to to define and understand your recovery goals and receive customized and cost-effective solutions based on your organization’s needs. Instead of buying and storing backup equipment yourself, we help free up your IT resources by maintaining, storing, and ensuring the equipment is up to date and ready-to-use when delivered. Our strategically placed global depots allow us to offer a resilient solution for backup hardware that will reduce your organization’s recovery time and ensure that your mission critical staff has the equipment they need to continue operations – wherever and whenever they might need it.

Minimizing downtime and the loss of revenue, while protecting client information and your organization’s reputation are our top priorities. With a complete BC/DR plan these goals can be achieved and your business can be protected from losses.

Imagit Inc specializes in providing comprehensive IT services for channel partners, MSPs, and enterprise-level organizations. Our expansive engineering team is carefully vetted and trained to meet your every IT need. Whether its proactive support, an emergency call, long-term projects, or project management, Imagit will deliver a solution that is customized to best fit your organization. Interested in learning more about working with Imagit? Contact us today!