How Adlumin’s cybersecurity automation helps credit unions battle business email compromise
According to Security Magazine, there has been a 150% year-over-year increase in Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, making them the most financially damaging type of attack. When this threat is getting worse every year, it’s no surprise the FBI named BEC the “$26 billion scam.”
To help remediate this cyber-epidemic, Adlumin developed a free tool that measures how organizations’ security stacks up against today’s most popular cyberattack tactics against Microsoft- Adlumin’s Microsoft 365 (M365) Business Email Compromise
(BEC) Simulator Tool.
First, let’s discuss what a BEC scam is, and how Adlumin’s free tool can help credit unions protect against them.
What is Business Email Compromise?
BEC is a cybercriminal phenomenon with a high risk of severe consequences. These types of attacks are more likely to rise, both in frequency and losses to organizations, big or small, that fall victim. BEC is a common scam where cybercriminals pose as vendors or company employees attempting to commit wire transfer fraud, among other tactics.
The FBI reported nearly $2.4 billion in adjusted losses due to BEC scams, which is reported as 49x as much as ransomware losses in 2021. These scams are simple yet effective and have become more sophisticated as prevention methods are implemented. For example, cybercriminals use a common form of phishing called domain spoofing, where they fake a website or email domain to fool the target into clicking or responding. BEC has been known as a low-risk, high-reward way to siphon money from credit unions.
Three Primary Types of Business Email Compromise Attacks
- Data Theft: Cybercriminals target human resource employees to obtain personal and confidential information about individuals within the organization, specifically executives. Cybercriminals use this information as leverage or to impersonate someone for future attacks.
- Account Compromise: Cybercriminals gain access to an employee’s email account and use it to request money from vendors. Payments are sent to bank accounts controlled by the cybercriminal.
- Attorney Impersonation: Cybercriminals impersonate a legal representative or lawyer, often over the phone. Lower-level or entry-level employees are targets for these types of attacks due to not having the knowledge to question the authenticity of the request.
Your Defense: Automation
BEC scams require a people-centric and automated defense that can detect, prevent, and respond to a wide range of BEC scams and phishing techniques. Automation is about leveling the playing field between cybercriminals and cybersecurity experts with the goal in mind of reducing the number of threats by eliminating vulnerabilities and risk through the prevention of identification of zero-day attacks and known cyber threats.
When security teams often lack the proper resources to test their security programs, they need a tool to understand their organization’s risk to the current and evolving threats. Adlumin’s M365 BEC Simulator tool tests prevalent attacks while identifying areas of risk. When paired with Proactive Security Awareness, employees gain awareness and are empowered with the knowledge and skills to identify suspicious activity.
Email is the largest infection vector for transmitting threats, requiring a reliable solution to remain resilient. Domain authentication, email security, user awareness, and content inspectors must work together to provide the utmost protection.
Adlumin’s M365 BEC Simulator tool allows organizations of all sizes to test their defenses against a brute force attack-to-success on a Microsoft 365 account, login from a foreign country, and Tor usage to access your network from a randomized location. The simulation is a quick but effective test of how well your systems are being monitored.
Test Your Defenses
See how your security stacks up against top tactics used to compromise accounts. Download Adlumin’s free M365 BEC Simulation tool today or contact one of our cybersecurity experts for a demo and more information.
