You’re security is only as secure as your employees. I was struck by this when I received an email from the head of my firm wanted to discuss a wire. I was being subject to a phishing attack.
I think we all see this often. Personally, I always find it curious when a bank sends me an email with a a warning about my account. I’m not worried since I don’t have an account at that bank. Of course that also leads to me ignoring emails from my own bank.
I pay a bit more attention when the CEO sends me an email.
Email business scams may caused more than $2 billion in losses over the last two years.
It’s not just advisers or fund managers that need to worry. At least one publicly listed company has suffered a loss from this scam. The company had to admit in it’s quarterly report that $46.7 million had gone missing.
As good as a firm’s systems may be to deter external threats and hackers, it’s the social engineering attacks at a firm that are becoming more successful.
Convincing an employee to authorize a wire takes less technical skill than hacking into a firm’s network. It all starts with a simple email.
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