Simple Ways to Prevent Multi-Million Dollar Losses from BEC
AUTHOR: Terry Kurzynski, CISSP, CISA, PCI QSA, ISO 27001 AUDITOR
In February of 2016, Fischer Advanced Composite Components (FACC), an Austrian aerospace parts maker servicing customers such as Airbus and Boing, fired its CEO of 17 years. The driving factor in the dismissal was the company’s reported income loss of 23.4 million euros during the encompassing fiscal year. As a comparison, the company had reported a loss of 4.5 million euros the year prior. The primary culprit for the spiked financial losses were not attributed to reduced revenues, profit margins or poor management. The overriding factor in the disappointing earnings was primarily due to a cyber fraud that cost it 42 million euros ($47 million) in a phishing attack scam known as Business Email Compromise (BEC) or CEO fraud. One single email, brought down a CEO as well as the profitability of a major company. (more…)