Imagine glancing down at your phone on a normal Friday night after a long week of work and seeing an alert from your bank. You open it to find that you’ve just paid a company you’ve never heard of $43,000!

This was an all-too-real situation for one small business owner a few weeks ago – and there’s NOTHING the owner, police, or anyone else can do to get that money back. It’s gone forever.

Thankfully, this company's $43,000 loss was a loss they could absorb, but it was still a huge hit, and frankly, they are lucky they weren’t taken for more.

Here’s what happened and how you can keep this from happening to you.

The E-mail that Started it all

Imagine receiving an e-mail so convincing, so utterly devoid of red flags, that you find yourself compelled to act. This isn’t a failure of judgment; it’s a testament to the sophistication of modern cyber threats.

In this case, an employee in the accounting department received an e-mail from the company’s “CEO” saying they were starting to work with a new company and needed to get them set up in the system and make a payment to them right away.

This was NOT an abnormal type of e-mail, nor was the amount anything that aroused suspicion – they made and received large amounts of money often.

The only telltale clue might have been that it came in on a Friday afternoon, and it was made clear that it was an urgent matter that had to be handled immediately.

The employee, thinking they were doing exactly what their boss wanted, set up the attacker’s company in the system, including their bank routing number, and made a payment. The minute they hit “Send,” the money was never to be seen again.

It wasn’t until the CEO called minutes later, after receiving notification of the transfer, that alarm bells started to ring! But by then, it was all too late.

So, what Happened?

While it’s impossible to know what exactly triggered this chain of events, the most likely culprit is that an employee, possibly even the owner, received an e-mail sent by a cybercriminal weeks or even months earlier that allowed this person to gain access to some of the company’s systems.

Likely, the e-mail looked normal and had a link that, when clicked, downloaded software onto the recipient’s computer, and that’s where things started to go wrong.

Over the following weeks, cybercriminals accessed company communications and discovered the players' identities. They devised a plan to make it look like the CEO needed a vendor to be paid urgently.

And when the criminals determined the time was right, they “attacked” and walked away with $43,000 for their efforts.

Home Alone

While this scenario may sound far-fetched, it’s not new.

If you remember seeing the classic movie Home Alone, would-be thieves watched houses immediately preceding Christmas to determine which families would be away for the holidays so they could break into those homes.

Cybercriminals do the same thing, but from a distance, and you’d never know they were ever there.

The scary fact is that your system could be compromised right now, and you would have no way of knowing it until an attack happens.

In the cybercrime world, the kind of attack this company suffered is spear phishing. Criminals identify a single point or person in an organization who they believe could fall victim to a scam like the one that happened here. They engineer a scheme to target them specifically.

What You and Your Employees Need to Know to Help Thwart Attacks

The sad fact is that there is no 100% safeguard against cybercriminals. But like our robbers in Home Alone, cybercriminals go after the low-hanging fruit. If your house has a gated entry, security system, outside cameras and lights, and three vicious-looking dogs roaming around, would-be thieves are much more likely to move on to a house without all these layers of security.

Cybercriminals operate similarly, looking for companies that aren’t protected and then targeting them specifically. So, the best thing you can do is have layers of protection for your company and education for your employees.

3 Things to Do Right Now to Protect Your Company

1. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), also called two-factor authentication (2FA), is not just a tool but also a shield against the relentless barrage of cyber threats. An example of MFA is when you try to log into a program, and it sends a code to your cell phone via text that needs to be entered before granting access to the program. While often deemed a nuisance, MFA isn’t an inconvenience – it’s the digital equivalent of locking your doors at night. It’s a simple yet effective measure differentiating between a secure business and a cautionary tale.
2. Employees are your first line of defense. Just like you’d teach your kids not to open the door for someone they don’t know, you NEED to educate your employees on malicious threats. It is key to teach them about the common scams, how to avoid them, and what to do if they think they’ve inadvertently clicked a link they shouldn’t have. You need to ask your IT company to provide this training, and often, they have programs that you can require your employees to go through a couple of times a year. The program then quizzes them to ensure they know. While this process isn’t something you or they will look forward to, the reality is that it could take just 10 to 15 minutes a couple of times a year to keep you out of the news and your money out of someone else’s account!
3. Get cyber security services in place. MFA is just the start of a comprehensive security plan. You need to talk to a qualified company (not your Uncle Larry, who helps you on the side) about getting more than a firewall and virus scan software. What worked a decade or two ago – and may still be helpful on a home network – would be like protecting a bank vault with a ring camera. It’s just not going to cut it. NOTE: We offer various security services for companies of all sizes and can talk to you about options that suit your situation.

Whatever You Do, Don’t Do This!!!

Maybe the worst thing the owner of the company that lost $43,000 did was they then posted a video and story on social media.

While their intentions were good because they wanted to warn other business owners not to fall victim to the same scam, they might as well have had T-shirts made with a big target on the back.

It’d be like having cash taken from your house, then going online and telling people exactly how it happened—you’d just be inviting more people to try to take your cash.

Not Sure If you’re as Protected and Prepared as you should be?

To ensure proper protection, get a FREE, no-obligation Cyber Security Risk Assessment. During this assessment, we’ll review your entire system, so you know exactly if and where you’re vulnerable to an attack.

You can schedule your assessment with one of our senior advisors by calling us at 941-493-5126 or clicking here.