Business email compromise (BEC) attacks are some of the most financially devastating cyberattacks. More involved than a phishing attempt, a BEC attack is when an attacker impersonates a trusted individual like an executive, vendor, or partner in an attempt to steal money, data, or access.
BEC is especially dangerous because the attacks typically originate from legitimate accounts, and traditional security tools struggle to detect malicious activity.
Protecting your organization against a business email compromise attack requires layered Zero Trust defenses that assume a compromise and limit what attacker can do next.
What is business email compromise?
Business email compromise is when attackers use email impersonation, stolen accounts, or social engineering to trick employees into transferring money, revealing sensitive information, or granting access.
BEC attacks often rely on deception rather than malware deployment. Attackers frequently impersonate trusted and important individuals to increase pressure and urgency.
Some common tactics of BEC attacks are:
- Executive impersonation
- Fraudulent invoices
- Payroll diversion attacks
- Vendor payment fraud
- Credential theft
- Requests for sensitive company or customer information
An example of a BEC attack is an attacker impersonating a CFO and requesting an urgent wire transfer from an employee in accounting. Because the request appears legitimate and comes from a high-ranking superior, the recipient is pressured to act quickly and may comply before verifying the request.
Attackers spend weeks researching organizations, executives, vendors, and internal communication patterns before launching an attack.
What is the difference between phishing and BEC?
Phishing attacks are broader than BEC attacks, and the end goal is typically to get the user to click on a malicious link, unknowingly download malware, or enter their credentials into a fake login page.
Phishing attacks are also mass distributed and target thousands of users at once.
Phishing may be the first stage of a BEC attack, as attackers can use stolen credentials to compromise an account and conduct malicious activity internally.
BEC attacks are typically much more targeted and personalized, rely heavily on social engineering, and are focused primarily on fraudulent payments and unauthorized access.
Why business email compromise attacks succeed
BEC attacks succeed because organizations rely heavily on email, cloud tools, and remote workflows for daily operations, and for attackers, compromising identities is often easier and more profitable than exploiting technical vulnerabilities.
Several factors fueling the success of BEC attacks:
- Cloud email platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace provide flexibility and accessibility, but they also create opportunities for attackers to target users from anywhere.
- Remote work means employees are unable to verify requests in person.
- Increase in credential theft has provided attackers with access to legitimate accounts that can be used for BEC attacks.
- AI tools help attackers generate more convincing emails, imitate writing styles, and craft highly targeted messages at scale. AI has also improved the believability of vishing, or voice phishing, which is widely used in BEC attacks.
- Easier access to phishing kits, stolen credentials, and BEC services, lowering the barrier to entry for attackers.
Indicators of a BEC attack
The first step in prevention is recognizing the signs. Common signs of a BEC attack include:
- Urgent payment or wire transfer requests, especially from a superior
- Unexpected changes to payment procedures or bank information
- Instructions to bypass standard approvals
- Contact outside normal business hours
- Slight misspellings in domain names or emails from a generic provider instead of a business domain
The impact of BEC attacks can be great, so recognizing the signs is crucial. From 2022–2024, reported losses from BEC attacks were $2.8 billion annually, and more than 21,000 companies report a BEC attack each year.
How to prevent business email compromise
There is no one way to prevent BEC attacks from impacting your organization. It requires a layered Zero Trust approach.
- Strengthen email security with authentication and anti-spoofing protections like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This helps reduce impersonation attempts and malicious emails reaching inboxes.
- Heighten identity security by enabling MFA across all accounts, using strong password policies, and implementing restricting account access based on device and location.
- Train employees to recognize the signs of a BEC attack like you would common phishing attempts and to escalate unusual communications.
- Establish strict payment approval processes and ensure employees know they should be followed under any circumstance, no matter the supposed urgency.
- Continuously monitor for unusual behavior even after successful login to identify and limit attacker movement.
Containing business email compromise requires a Zero Trust mindset
Two core tenets of Zero Trust are to assume a breach and continuous verification. This mindset is extremely helpful in preventing BEC attacks.
Employees who operate under a “never trust, always verify” framework are more likely to question unusual payment requests, even if they come from a supposedly trusted source.
A Zero Trust environment enforces default-deny Application Allowlisting policies to prevent unknown software and scripts from running and applies the principle of least privilege to ensure excessive privileges cannot be misused, limiting the efficacy of stolen credentials.
By focusing on containment and control rather than implicit trust, organizations can significantly reduce the impact of business email compromise attacks and build a more resilient security posture.
To see how ThreatLocker can help contain BEC attacks through application control, least privilege enforcement, and granular access controls, book a demo today.
FAQs
What is business email compromise?
Business email compromise is a cyberattack where attackers use impersonation, compromised accounts, or social engineering to trick employees into sending money, sharing sensitive data, or granting unauthorized access.
How does business email compromise work?
In a BEC attack, threat actors will typically impersonate executives, vendors, or trusted contacts through spoofed or compromised email accounts to manipulate victims into acting.
Is BEC like phishing?
BEC and phishing are similar but not exactly alike. Phishing attacks are generally broad campaigns focused on credential theft or malware delivery, while BEC attacks are more targeted and often focus on financial fraud.
Can multi-factor authentication stop business email compromise?
Multi-factor authentication helps reduce risk and should be implemented, but it cannot be trusted as the only layer of defense. Attackers can bypass MFA using techniques like adversary-in-the-middle phishing, token theft, and session hijacking.
How can businesses prevent BEC attacks?
Organizations can reduce BEC risk by implementing MFA, email authentication, employee training, least privilege access, conditional access policies, and Zero Trust security controls.
How does Zero Trust help prevent business email compromise?
Zero Trust limits attacker access by enforcing least privilege, controlling application behavior, restricting access to sensitive systems, and continuously monitoring activity. It also implements a policy of “never trust, always verify” which encourages employees to be more vigilant.
