Page 43 - The Insurance Times May 2021

3 WAYS THE RISK OF

BUSINESS E-MAIL

COMPROMISE IS

EVOLVING, AND

HOW TO PROTECT

YOUR BUSINESS

B usiness E-mail Compromise (BEC) is the fastest the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated

growing type of social engineering fraud - a broad
vulnerabilities in companies' defenses.
category of scams in which perpetrators
impersonate a trusted party to manipulate their
some control over security. People have a tendency to utilize
victims into giving away either funds or valuable information With most employees working from home, employers lose
willingly. This deceptive form of theft is also known as phishing. home networks and devices as workarounds to IT issues that
arise in their employer's internal system. That provides new
Though this risk is not new, it is evolving. Here are three avenues through which fraudsters can reach their targets,
trends amplifying the threat of BEC, and how businesses can with less chance of being caught in company filters.
better protect themselves from loss:
Additionally, employees are dealing with new levels of stress,
balancing full-time work with homeschooling, childcare and in
1. Stressed out, remote workforces make some cases eldercare, on top of fears over becoming infected
easier targets with the virus itself. When people are under pressure, they're
more likely to give in to urgent demands coming from a
According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), BEC
presumably important vendor or business partner.
scams doubled in 2020 compared to 2019. Insurers have
undoubtedly seen a spike in claims since the beginning of Fraudsters are capitalizing on the stress, uncertainty and
occasional cyber security lapses of the past year, growing
About the author bolder in their tactics and demands.

Greg Bangs 2. Fraudsters are growing bolder and
SVP, Crime Regional Leader - applying more pressure
North America at AXA XL
In the classic BEC scenario, the thief poses as a vendor

The Insurance Times, May 2021 43