Beware of email scams; 180 Indian companies affected
The report also pointed out that most BEC scams that occurred this year have been mostly targeted at CFOs of organisations.
A recent report by security solution provider Trend Micro highlighted that over 180 Indian companies were affected with Business Email Compromises (BEC) schemes.
The report, titled ‘The Reign of Ransomware’, provided extensive data surrounding the increase of such scams, which has caused over $3 billion losses and nearly 500 product vulnerabilities in 2016.
The firm defines Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes as scam tactics which compromise business accounts in order to facilitate an unauthorized fund transfer.
These threats are currently one of the most dangerous cyber threats encountered by organisations in India. As per the research firm’s predictions, 2016 has witnessed massive boom in online extortion activities in form of malicious attacks.
The report said 79 new ransomware families were identified in the first six months of this year, surpassing the total number of new families found in 2015. Almost 58 per cent of the ransomware attacks in 2016 have been linked to BEC scams that originated from emails.
“While it’s unfortunate for us, cyber-criminals are resilient and flexible when it comes to altering an attack method each time we find a patch or solution,” said Ed Cabrera, chief cyber-security officer for Trend Micro.
The report also pointed out that most BEC scams that occurred this year have been mostly targeted at CFOs of organisations. BEC scams are unconventional in nature and do not involve malware, making it very hard for traditional email solutions to detect malicious links or attachments sent via mail.
Trend Micro also recommends organisations to increase awareness among employees to avoid such scams.