Spotlight on Impersonation and Business Email Compromise in Phishing Attacks

• Spoofing Identities: Attackers spoof email addresses or display names to mimic trusted contacts such as executives, accounting department or vendors.
• Social Engineering: Attackers create convincing messages that prompt recipients to disclose credentials, transfer funds, or download malware.

Spotting Impersonation Attacks:

• Check the Sender: Verify the sender’s email address carefully, especially if the message urges urgent action.
• Review Message Context: Look for unusual requests (ie. Request for gift cards, changing banking information, asking to communicate on a separate medium), discrepancies in writing style, or unexpected attachments or links.
• Validate Requests: Contact the sender through a known, trusted channel such as by phone or video to confirm the legitimacy of requests.

Understanding Business Email Compromise (BEC) and Vendor Email Compromise (VEC)

• Business Email Compromise: This attack targets employees managing financial transactions, aiming to trick them into transferring funds or disclosing sensitive information.
• Vendor Email Compromise: This attack targets the financial supply chain.  It involves compromised email accounts of vendors or partners to send fraudulent invoices or payment requests to targeted organizations.

How Attackers Bypass Email Security Measures:

• Email Spoofing: Attackers manipulate email headers to bypass spam filters and security gateways.
• Social Engineering: Attackers craft messages exploit trust relationships, appearing legitimate enough to deceive recipients.
• Compromised Accounts: Vendor email compromise attackers gain access to legitimate vendor accounts (usually through a separate phishing attack) to send fraudulent invoices or requests, making detection challenging.

Protecting Against Phishing Attacks:

1. Awareness and Training: Educate employees about phishing tactics and what to look for, emphasizing vigilance and skepticism towards unexpected or urgent requests.
2. Email Security Tools: Implement advanced email filtering, anti-spoofing measures, and domain-based authentication (DMARC, SPF, DKIM) to detect and block suspicious emails.
3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enforce MFA for accessing sensitive systems and conducting financial transactions to prevent unauthorized access.
4. Verification: Reach out to the sender through a separate channel such as by phone to verify the request.  When in doubt, please contact your TeckPath team for assistance.

Conclusion

Phishing remains one of the most persistent and damaging threats to organizations, with impersonation attacks, BEC, and VEC continuing to evolve in sophistication. These attacks exploit trust, urgency, and human nature, often bypassing technical safeguards if employees are not vigilant.

Defending against these threats requires a layered approach: combining advanced email security measures, organization-wide awareness training, and robust verification protocols to ensure that employees can confidently identify and neutralize phishing attempts. By fostering a culture of cautious verification and leveraging technology like MFA, DMARC, SPF, and DKIM, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to these attacks.

When in doubt, do not act on suspicious emails, and always verify requests through trusted channels. Staying vigilant is your strongest defense against phishing.