Tip of the Week: Protecting Your Company from Invoice Impersonation

While you should be sure to keep yourself apprised of threats, it could be argued that it is even more important for your employees to be aware of them. After all, they are the ones utilizing your business’ workstations, software solutions, and even Internet-based apps to facilitate their daily duties. You need to make sure that your employees are able to spot attacks and react to them properly.

While many of today’s employees do have to undergo some sort of security training as part of their employment, the increased sophistication of these attacks makes them more difficult to spot; and, subsequently, harder to react to. One of the most common ways that this occurs is through invoice impersonation attacks. These attacks send customized emails under an assumed name--usually one that is a real-world contact--that includes a link to an online invoice, where the user can download the invoice.

Instead of downloading the invoice, the victim downloads malware to their device. Ransomware is often spread in this fashion, hoping that the victims will download the invoice in a state of panic, wondering what in the world they are being billed for.

Warning Signs
To keep yourself from being tricked by an invoice impersonation attack, or any other type of phishing email, the best route is to provide training and remain aware of the warning signs.

One of the most common ways a hacker will take advantage of email is by sending a message demanding payment, with a link to make things convenient for the user to do so. The problem with email is that the user is forced to take it on good faith that the message comes from the proper recipient. If it were a phone call, you might recognize that the voice is different from whoever should be calling, and if it were a handwritten message, you might notice a discrepancy--but with a message with no identity, it gets considerably more difficult to identify a falsified message.

If you ever receive an email claiming to be from someone who needs a payment from you, there’s a good chance that the link leading to a “payment portal” is just a link to a ransomware program or other type of threat.

Securing Your Business
Phishing attacks naturally rely on the victim trusting the impersonation, so you can take advantage of this opportunity to sow the seeds of distrust--that is, to train your employees to identify emails and distrust anything suspicious that they receive in their inboxes. Your employees should always be wary of risk factors, but they should also attend regular training sessions that test how much they remember about cybersecurity best practices.

You can also take it one step further by implementing spam filters, malware blockers, and other security solutions designed to prevent infections in the first place. If you minimize the chances that your employees are exposed to threats in the first place, they are less likely to make a mistake that has great ramifications for your network security.

Horne & Benik can equip your business with enterprise-level security solutions designed to augment and maintain network security for small businesses. To learn more about how you can manage the risk associated with security threats, reach out to us at (603) 499-4400.