BEC Attacks Jumped 17% Last Year [source: infosecurity-magazine]

The Business Email Compromise (BEC) epidemic shows no signs of abating, after Proofpointrevealed a 17% increase in attacks last year.

The security vendor analyzed over 160 billion emails sent to more than 2400 companies spanning 150 countries to compile its 2017 Email Fraud Threat Report.

It revealed that by the fourth quarter, nearly 89% of all organizations were targeted by at least one attack — a major jump from the 75% targeted in Q4 2016.

Proofpoint claimed that attacks are typically low in volume but expanding within organizations to target more people across more units, and spoofing more identities.

The average number targeted in each organization was 13.

Most attacks are designed with wire transfer fraud in mind, with almost a third of emails containing the word “payment” in the subject line. Scams also coincided with the US tax deadline in Q1.

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