Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated in the ways they target business employees to gain access to financial records and accounts. CEO fraud is something you may not have heard of before but it should definitely be on your radar of potential cyber threats to your business.
Depending on how much time and effort the criminal spends in preparation, these attacks can be very sophisticated and catch many business owners, executives and other company employees off guard. CEO fraud involves the impersonation of a company executive to another employee by email or even sometimes through a text message to execute an unauthorized wire transfer of money or to send out confidential tax information.
Spoofing software allows cyber criminals to easily spoof a phone number and text a message that appears to come from an executive. When John in accounting receives a text from the CEO that appears to be legitimate and requests a wire transfer of funds, he is likely to comply without questioning the request. Cyber criminals are fully aware of this and this is why CEO fraud is one of their favorite tools of deception.
What can you do to stop CEO fraud? The first thing to do is let your employees know that CEO fraud exists and that no message will be sent by electronic communication or text message from any executive requesting money transfers or any sensitive financial information. If employees do receive such a request, they should report it immediately to a supervisor and never follow through with the request without a verbal confirmation from the executive.
Even with the most careful employee cyber security training, there is no guarantee that you won’t become a victim. Let us talk to you about how to protect your business with a cyber liability policy. http://sharedalliance.com/
