In 2000, the FBI created the IC3, known as the Internet Crime Complaint Center was first developed to handle singular fraud cases, until 2003 when the expansion of this department became unignorable. As of late, the cyber climate began growing at a rapid pace, so to aid in safer business computing, the FBI utilizes this division to receive complaints regarding any cybercrimes or fraud dealing with intellectual property, business data, client information, or employee contact information.
FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint (IC3) reports that updated numbers with Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams known for CEO fraud are continuing to grow year over year. With over 100% increase in identifiable losses between May 2018 and July 2019. Since releasing their last report in June 2016, the IC3 received complaints regarding 166,349 domestic or international incidents – that is too many people falling for CEO fraud. It gets worse, with a total of $26 billion being stolen from 2016 – 2019. These findings are starting for any growing business, as criminals prey on Personal Identifiable Information or Wage & Tax Statements.
What’s the scam behind the Billions lost?
Although business email compromise scams have grown, there is a heightened awareness regarding this style of fraud scheme. This scam is the most reported scheme from victims all over the world, making up the estimated $26 billion loss. Obviously, the U.S. is hit hard, but so are 177 other countries across 140 banking institutions, forcing small business owners to begin acting on proactive methods of protection and reactive measures for employees and technology.
Defensive Measures Against Business Email Compromises:
- Use two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication to verify requests regarding changes in account information.
- Always check URLs in email links to double-check the business is who it claims to be.
- Be aware of purposefully misspelled links to suspicious domain names.
- Do NOT supply logins or Personal Identification Information through email.
- Monitor your personal accounts on a regular basis, like a missing scheduled deposit.
- Keep software patches on ALL systems, applying any possible feature updates.
- Always check the sender’s email address to the company they claim to be from. In most cases, domains should be the same.
- Ensure email extension settings are set up, according to your company policy, to address the 2nd largest attack vector.
To make sure employees don’t fall victim to Business Email Compromises, many businesses have implemented more strict processes to double-check/authenticate information regarding payment processing,
Not sure where you stand? Need more direction? Cyber Security is a multi-layered approach designed to uniquely target threat vectors in a proactive attempt to shore up any defenses that could easily be breached.
Leave Worrying About Hackers to the Experts
Clare Computer Solutions has provided clients with IT consulting and Managed Services in the Bay Area since 1990. Security isn’t a one-and-done approach – get the right fit security for your business.
