Japanese media firm, Nikkei, was recently scammed out of $29 million dollars after an employee fell for a classic business email compromise (BEC) attack.
The firm recently issued a statement claiming that in late September of 2019, an employee of its subsidiary Nikkei America, Inc. transferred $29 million after receiving instructions from a malicious third party claiming to be a management executive at Nikkei.
After Nikkei America recognized the payment request was likely fraudulent, the firm retained lawyers to confirm the facts around the incident and filed a damage report with investigative authorities in the United States and Hong Kong. The firm is still in the process of recovering the funds that have been transferred.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury, recently revealed that these BEC attacks are making cybercriminals over $300 million per month from their US victims alone. The FBI also issued a warning earlier this year that the losses and potential losses reported as a result of BEC attacks hit over $12 billion globally.
With BEC scams continuing to increase in volume and value, it's important that organizations have checks and balances in place to stay safe and quickly spot an attack. Solutions like File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) have long been considered an essential security defense to ensure sensitive environments remain secure, hardened, and free of vulnerabilities at all times.
Learn more about our File Integrity Monitoring solution
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