Business Email Compromise (BEC) — SMB Risk Assessment Guide

How Business Email Compromise (BEC) Works — Step by Step

1. Compromise: attacker gains access to a legitimate business email account via phishing or credential stuffing
2. Reconnaissance: monitors email threads for upcoming transactions, payment schedules, and relationships
3. Impersonation or takeover: uses compromised account or lookalike domain to send fraudulent payment instructions
4. Urgency tactics: creates time pressure to prevent victim from verifying out-of-band
5. Payment redirect: instructs victim to change wire transfer destination to attacker-controlled account
6. Money mule: funds rapidly moved through multiple accounts to prevent recovery

Business Email Compromise (BEC) Impact on SMBs

Prevention Controls

Implement these controls to reduce your business email compromise (bec) exposure. Prioritize based on your current gaps.

• Out-of-band verification: always call the requester on a known number to confirm payment changes
• Dual authorization for all wire transfers above threshold ($5,000 is common)
• Email authentication (DMARC with policy=reject) prevents domain impersonation
• Multi-factor authentication on all email accounts
• Employee training on BEC recognition — especially finance and executive assistants
• Payment process policy requiring callback verification for new or changed wire instructions

CyberStackHub Tools for Business Email Compromise (BEC) Risk