The recent BEC Report for Q2 2020 released by Abnormal Security Quarterly shows a peak in Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks related to covid-19. Throughout the quarter there was a huge spike in financial fraud, which was driven by the uncertainty of working from home and companies shifting their operations. In addition, finance department employees saw 50% more BEC attacks target them compared to C-level executives. Following this trend, vendors also saw an increase in fraud related to payments. Lastly, American Express was a top impersonated brand earlier in the year, but it has now been taken over by companies like Zoom and Amazon that have grown in popularity due to the pandemic.
Abnormal Security warns that while attacks related to covid-19 are decreasing, 2020 election attacks may be on the rise. It’s important that all businesses review their email security measures so that their employees and systems don’t fall victim to malicious emails. In new work situations like working from home, systems are more vulnerable which is likely why there was an increase in attacks. Read this to discover more information about the 2020 Q2 BEC Report.