How to Recognize and Thwart Business Email Compromise Scams

The reports that Nigerian criminals have managed to bilk businesses out of billions of dollars through sophisticated business email compromise schemes is alarming. What’s more alarming is that the hackers managed to break into the email accounts of accounts payable staff and modify the settings on their email accounts to hide their activities and to receive copies of all of their email is even more so. However, for the scheme to work the Nigerians had to find a series of conditions in place before they could start collecting on their fraudulent invoices. The first condition is an insecure installation of Microsoft Office 365. The second is an insecure invoicing system.