How to Prevent Business Email Compromise Attacks: Protect Your Company from a Growing Threat

Email remains one of the most essential communication tools for modern businesses — but it’s also one of the most targeted. Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a rapidly growing form of cyberattack that tricks employees into transferring funds or sharing sensitive information.

According to recent data, BEC attacks surged by more than 80% in a single year, and many incidents go unreported internally. These attacks aren’t simple spam emails — they are carefully planned, financially motivated schemes that can cost businesses thousands or even millions of dollars.

To protect your company, employees must understand how these attacks work, how to recognize red flags, and what steps to take when something doesn’t feel right.

How Business Email Compromise Works

Business Email Compromise attacks are highly targeted social engineering scams. Instead of blasting thousands of generic emails, attackers often spend weeks researching their targets.

They review LinkedIn profiles, company websites, press releases, and social media accounts to understand your leadership structure, vendor relationships, and financial processes. Their goal is to learn who handles payments — and who has authority.

Once they gather enough information, the attacker crafts a convincing email that appears to come from a company executive, vendor, or trusted colleague. The message typically requests a time-sensitive wire transfer or payment and may be labeled confidential or urgent to discourage verification.

These emails often contain no obvious spelling errors or red flags. In some cases, the attacker spoofs a nearly identical domain name. In more advanced attacks, they may compromise a legitimate email account.

If the request is fulfilled, funds are sent directly to a criminal-controlled account — often overseas — before anyone realizes what happened.

Common Steps in a Business Email Compromise Scam

1. Research the Target

Attackers gather publicly available information about your organization’s staff, vendors, and communication habits. LinkedIn, your company website, press releases, and social media profiles often provide everything they need to map out your structure.

2. Identify Financial Decision-Makers

Scammers determine who has access to payment systems — typically someone in accounting, finance, payroll, or executive leadership.

3. Craft a Deceptive Email

Using a spoofed domain or a compromised account, the attacker creates an email that appears legitimate. It may reference real projects, vendors, or internal conversations to build credibility.

4. Create Urgency or Secrecy

The message often stresses confidentiality or urgency — for example, “This must be handled today” or “Keep this between us.” This discourages verification and reduces the chance someone questions the request.

5. Request a Wire Transfer or Payment

The attacker asks for funds to be sent for a fake invoice, vendor change, acquisition payment, or tax obligation.

6. Funds Are Transferred

If the request isn’t verified through a secondary channel, the transfer is completed — often to a foreign account that disappears quickly.

How to Protect Your Business from Business Email Compromise

Business Email Compromise attacks can be difficult to detect — but with the right combination of employee awareness, secure processes, and technical controls, your organization can significantly reduce the risk. Prevention requires both smart people and smart systems working together.

1. Train Employees to Spot Threats

Your team is your first line of defense. Provide regular cybersecurity awareness training that teaches employees how to:

• Recognize urgent or confidential payment requests

• Verify unexpected financial instructions

• Review their “sent” folder for unauthorized activity

• Use strong, unique passwords with at least 12 characters

• Store credentials securely using a password manager

• Report suspicious emails to IT immediately

Consistent training reduces the chance that a single deceptive email turns into a major financial loss.

2. Set Up Email Authentication

Email spoofing is central to most BEC attacks. Implementing proper email authentication protocols helps prevent attackers from impersonating your domain.

Recommended controls include:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)

These protocols verify that emails sent from your domain are legitimate and reduce the likelihood of spoofing or phishing attempts.

3. Build a Secure Payment Approval Process

Fraudulent transfers often succeed because internal controls are weak. Strengthen your payment procedures by requiring:

• Multi-person approval for new or unusual payments

• Two-factor authentication for finance users

• Verification via a secondary communication channel (never rely on email alone)

A simple phone call to a verified number can prevent a significant financial loss.

4. Monitor Transactions Regularly

Assign responsibility for reviewing financial activity on a consistent schedule. Early detection of unusual transactions can increase the chance of freezing or recovering funds.

5. Create a BEC Response Plan

Even strong defenses cannot guarantee prevention. Your incident response plan should include:

• Internal reporting procedures

• Immediate steps to contact your bank and attempt to freeze transfers

• Notification of leadership, legal counsel, and law enforcement if necessary

A fast response improves the odds of minimizing damage.

6. Use Anti-Phishing and Email Security Technology

Deploy advanced email filtering tools that block phishing attempts before they reach inboxes. Modern, AI-driven email security platforms can detect impersonation attempts, suspicious domains, and abnormal behavior patterns in real time.

Technology alone is not enough — but when combined with training and process controls, it significantly strengthens your defenses.