We rely on emails for daily operations to communicate with clients, staff, vendors, friends, family, and regulators. Email is also one of the most prevalent means that cyber-criminals target for a variety of purposes, from obtaining sensitive information from the recipient to using it to establish a foothold to gain broader network access.
Business email compromise phishing typically occurs when a cyber-criminal poses as a legitimate business colleague—such as a coworker, vendor, or partner—to facilitate malicious activity. Cyber-criminals may try to get employees to turn over passwords, convince employees to send money, steal data, or otherwise harm the business for their own gain.
Basic email/text message tips from the FBI to protect your business:
- Be skeptical of any unknown senders
- Don’t click on any unknown emails or hyperlinks
- Double check the URL to ensure it looks correct
- Avoid emails with any misspelled hyperlinks in the actual domain name
- Verify the email address used to send emails
- If something looks wrong, don’t interact, and report it immediately
Lastly it is important to have cyber insurance to protect the business assets should a cyber incident occur.
Lee Norcross, MBA, CPCU, CPIA
Managing Director, CEO
(616) 940-1101 Ext. 7080