New research on email threats points to AI-based tools to assist in generating BEC content. And the overwhelming targeted role may or may not surprise you.
The recent rise in business email compromise (BEC) attacks has a lot to do with the viability of committing digital fraud. But, apparently, it’s easy enough that it’s estimated to be a $12 billion problem.
According to VIPRE’s Email Threat Trends Report: 2024 Q2, the FBI reported $2.9 billion in losses from BEC last year, versus ransomware’s paltry $59.6 million in the same timeframe.
In other words, BEC’s a big problem.
And AI may have a lot to do with the success of BEC. According to VIPRE, 40% of BEC emails were generated by AI; they tested suspected BEC emails against a number of “GPT” detection solutions and got unanimous results – they’re AI-generated.
Source: AI GPT Generation
VIPRE also found that 49% of all detected spam emails were BEC emails, attempting to impersonate someone within an organization in an effort to commit digital fraud. An overwhelming 87% of these attacks purported to be the CEO, with a member of human resources in second place (8%), and IT in third (3%).
It’s obvious that pretending to be the CEO is going to get people to move on payments far more than other roles. It’s also why those responsible for the organization’s financial payments need to continually undergo new-school security awareness training to ensure they remain vigilant constantly.
KnowBe4 empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 65,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.
CEO fraud has ruined the careers of many executives and loyal employees, causing over $26 billion in losses. Don’t be the next victim. This manual provides a thorough overview of how executives are compromised, how to prevent such an attack and what to do if you become a victim.
