The FBI has Outlines Risk to Your Business

The FBI has outlined 5 main types of scams that affect businesses:

BOGUS INVOICE SCHEME - criminals pretend to be a supplier requesting funds to a fraudulent account

CEO FRAUD - scammers pose as the CEO and send an email to the finance department requesting a money transfer

ACCOUNT COMPROMISE - your email account is hacked and used to request invoice payments to suppliers

ATTORNEY IMPERSONATION - cyber criminals pretend to be the attorney and request funds or sensitive information

DATA THEFT - HR or bookkeeping are usually targeted to obtain sensitive information to use in future attacks

You know that if your business becomes the victim of cyber-crime, you should report it to the FBI or your countries equivalent. And lots of businesses have been doing just that. Last year, the FBI received 791,790 complaints of internet crime. This was up 300,000 from 2019. And yes, you've guessed it, the pandemic is to blame for this one.

While we were trying to protect ourselves and our loved ones from Covid-19, cyber criminals were taking advantage. Americans lost more than $4.2 billion to scammers. The biggest source of loss? Business email compromise. The FBI recommends the best way to avoid this type of scam is to verify all requests for personal information or money transfer, either directly or over the phone. However, security awareness training can also be a big help in protecting your business from business email compromise, or any other type of data breach.

Our advice is to schedule regular training for all of your people, from receptionists right up to the CEO. You can even try attack simulations to help educate your team on how this kind of attack really occurs. Knowledge is power, after all.

If you want help with this, get in touch!