Business Email Compromise (BEC) Recovery: Steps To Take After A Successful BEC Attack
Introduction
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a really sneaky and sophisticated type of cybercrime. Attackers trick employees into doing things like sending sensitive information or transferring money to fake accounts. They do this by pretending to be people the employees trust, like executives or vendors. BEC attacks take advantage of our trust in normal business communications and how we usually do things, which is why they often lead to big financial losses.
This guide will walk you through the steps you should take if you ever find yourself dealing with a BEC attack.
Steps to Take in Response to BEC Attacks.
We are going to be taking this in three segments:
- Immediate response.
- Short-term response.
- Long-term response.
Immediate Response.
You need to do this within the first few hours of finding out you’ve been hit. Time is super critical here. How fast you act can make a huge difference in how bad the damage is. Here’s what needs to happen:
Contain the Breach.
Think of this as putting out a fire. You’ve got to stop the attack from spreading.
Benefits of containing the breach.
- Limit the Damage: Attackers often start by taking over one account, and then they try to use that to get into other parts of your system. If you can contain the breach, you can stop them from moving around and messing up other stuff. This helps keep more of your systems safe and working normally.
- Preserve Evidence: When something like this happens, you need to gather up all the clues. Attackers will try to cover their tracks by deleting stuff, so you need to act fast to stop them from destroying important information that can help figure out what happened.
- Reduce Financial Losses: The longer these attackers have access, the more money they can steal. Containing the breach quickly can help limit how much you lose.
- Protect Your Reputation: If people find out your company had a security breach, they might not trust you anymore. If you handle the situation quickly and show that you’re on top of it, people will have more confidence in you.
Notify Relevant Parties.
You can’t keep this a secret. You need to let the right people and organizations know what’s going on, and keep them updated.
Benefits of notifying relevant parties.
- Investigation and Prosecution: The police and other law enforcement agencies need to know so they can investigate. The information you give them is crucial for them to track down the criminals and hopefully bring them to justice.
- Financial Recovery: You need to tell your bank or any other financial institution right away. They might be able to trace where the money went and have a chance of getting it back. The faster you tell them, the better your chances.
- Protecting Affected Parties: Your employees and customers might also be at risk. You need to let them know what happened so they can take steps to protect themselves. For example, they might need to change their passwords or keep an eye on their bank accounts.
- Mitigation of Reputational Damage: It might seem better to keep things quiet, but in the long run, it’s usually better to be honest. By telling your customers and partners what happened, and what you’re doing about it, you show them that you’re taking the situation seriously and that you’re committed to keeping them safe.
- Prevention of Future Attacks: Every time a company gets hit by a BEC attack, we learn something new about how these criminals work. By sharing what happened with the police and other organizations, you help everyone else learn how to prevent these attacks in the future.
Short Term Response.
In the days after the BEC attack, you need to take more steps to ensure the attackers aren’t still lurking in your systems. This is what you should do in the short term:
Conduct a Preliminary Investigation.
You need to figure out exactly what happened. This means finding out how the attackers got in, what they did, and who was affected. This will help you create a plan for how to recover and prevent this from happening again. To gather information for this investigation, you should:
- Identify the initial access point: You’ve got to figure out how these guys got in. Check your email logs, network traffic, and system records to find the source. Was it a phishing email? Did they hack into an account?
- Determine the scope of the compromise: How bad is the damage? What systems did they touch? What information did they steal? How much money did you lose?
- Analyze affected communications: Look closely at the hacked emails and any other messages that were involved. See if you can find any clues about how the attackers operated.
- Preserve evidence: Save everything! All your logs, emails, and any other records related to the attack. You’ll need this information later.
Review and update security protocols.
Now’s the time to tighten up your security. You don’t want the attackers to be able to use the same trick again. Here are some things you can do:
- Enhance Email Authentication: Make it harder for attackers to fake email addresses by using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
- Strengthen Employee Training: Teach your employees how to spot phishing emails and other BEC scams. Make this training ongoing, not just a one-time thing.
- Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Require employees to use more than just a password to log in. This could be a code sent to their phone, or a fingerprint.
- Verify Payment Details: Put strict procedures in place to double-check any changes to vendor payment information or large fund transfers.
- Regular Security Audits: Check your systems regularly for any weaknesses.
- Incident Response Plan: Create a detailed plan for what to do if you’re attacked again.
Long Term Response.
In the weeks and months after the BEC attack, you need to take some longer-term steps to make sure your security is as strong as possible. This will help protect your business and your customers in the future:
Conduct a Thorough Investigation.
You need to do a deep dive to find out exactly how the BEC attack happened. This means figuring out the original weakness in your systems or procedures that the attackers exploited. For example, was it a phishing email that tricked someone into revealing their login details? Or was it a software vulnerability that hadn’t been patched?
Understanding the root cause is super important because it enables an organization to do more than just treat the immediate symptoms of the attack. It allows them to take very specific and targeted steps to prevent similar attacks from happening in the future. If you don’t find out what the root cause was, you’re much more likely to fall victim to another attack. To get to the bottom of a BEC attack, investigators need to follow a detailed process to gather evidence, talk to people who might have seen something, and carefully examine all the information. Here’s a breakdown of what that involves:
- Gathering Evidence:
- Preserving Digital Evidence: The first step is to make sure that any digital information related to the attack is carefully preserved. This is crucial because this kind of evidence can easily be changed or deleted. Investigators might create exact copies of hard drives, network logs, and email records. They also document things like when and where the evidence was found, and who handled it.
- Email Analysis: Emails are often a key part of BEC attacks, so investigators look at them very closely. This includes checking the email headers (which contain technical details like where the email came from) to see if they’ve been forged or altered. They also look for any malicious attachments or links, and try to trace the path the email took.
- System Logs and Network Traffic: Investigators also examine system logs, which are records of computer activity, and network traffic, which is data that travels across a network. This can help them identify any unauthorized access to computer systems or any unusual activity that might be related to the BEC attack.
- Interviewing Witnesses:
- Identifying Key Individuals: Investigators need to talk to people who might have information about the attack. This could include anyone who received suspicious emails, who was involved in the financial transaction, or who knows the company’s security procedures.
- Conducting Interviews: The interviews are done carefully, with investigators asking detailed questions to get a clear understanding of what happened. They also look for any inconsistencies or suspicious details in the person’s story. The goal is to gather as much accurate information as possible.
- Analyzing Data:
- Correlating Evidence: All the evidence that’s been gathered, from the digital information to the witness interviews, needs to be pieced together. Investigators look for connections and patterns that can help them understand how the attack unfolded.
- Identifying Vulnerabilities: A big part of the analysis is to find any weaknesses in the company’s systems or procedures that the attackers were able to exploit. This could include things like software that wasn’t up to date, employees who weren’t properly trained, or a lack of strong security measures.
- Reconstructing the BEC Attack: Finally, investigators use all the information they’ve gathered to create a detailed timeline of the BEC attack. This helps everyone understand exactly what happened, how the attackers were able to get in, and what the impact was.
Review and update response plan.
You need to make sure your security plan is up-to-date and reflects what you’ve learned from the attack. This will help keep your business and your customers safe going forward.
You can also learn more about business email compromise from the government.
Conclusion.
By understanding these steps and acting quickly, you can minimize the damage from a BEC attack and make sure you’re well-prepared for any future incidents.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Business Email Compromise?
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a type of cybercrime in which attackers use sneaky email tricks to impersonate someone you trust—like a colleague, a boss, or a known vendor—with the goal of convincing you to do something that benefits them, usually sending money or sensitive information.
What is the benefit of responding to a BEC Attack immediately?
Responding to a Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack immediately is critical. Acting fast greatly increases your chances of recovering stolen funds by alerting banks quickly. It also helps contain the breach by locking out the attacker from compromised accounts and stops the attack from spreading further. A swift response protects your company’s reputation, helps preserve evidence, and ensures you meet any legal requirements, ultimately maximizing your ability to recover from the incident.
