Business email compromise is especially dangerous because the attacker often doesn’t do anything obvious right away. They get into a mailbox, create forwarding rules or hide replies, and wait. The goal may simply be to sit there until an invoice or wire transfer gives them an opportunity. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, reported cybercrime losses reached $16.6 billion in 2024, and BEC continues to be one of the more expensive categories of fraud.
At one law firm, an attacker compromised a mailbox and created a rule that quietly moved any email containing “invoice” or “wire” into an unused folder. Two weeks later, a client received updated wiring instructions for a settlement payment from what looked like the firm’s own account. The client called to confirm before sending the funds, and that phone call is the only reason the money didn’t go out.
We normally put several controls around this. Block automatic forwarding to outside domains. Alert when inbox rules are created or changed. Most importantly, have an internal policy that any change to payment or wiring instructions gets confirmed verbally using a phone number you already know. That last one has nothing to do with cybersecurity software, but it can stop a very expensive mistake.
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