Business Email Compromise (BEC)

25 minutes

Welcome to Module 4: Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Every other phishing attack we’ve covered so far — malicious links, fake login pages, malware attachments — relies on technology to do the damage. Business Email Compromise is different. BEC is pure social engineering. No links to click. No malware to download. Just one person convincing another to send money or share sensitive data.

And it’s the most expensive type of cybercrime in the world.

$2.77B In reported losses from Business Email Compromise in 2024 alone, according to the FBI. That's more than ransomware. More than any other category of cybercrime.

BEC doesn’t make headlines the way ransomware does. There’s no dramatic system lockout, no public data leak. Instead, someone in accounting quietly wires $180,000 to what they believe is a vendor’s new bank account. Someone in HR changes an employee’s direct deposit to an attacker’s account. Someone buys $2,000 in gift cards because they think the CEO asked them to.

By the time anyone notices, the money is gone.

What You’ll Learn

  1. The five types of BEC — The specific playbooks attackers use, from CEO impersonation to vendor payment redirects
  2. Why technology can’t stop BEC — What makes these attacks invisible to every email security tool
  3. Processes that actually work — The verification steps that catch BEC attempts before money moves

Why This Matters

BEC targets trust, not technology. These attacks exploit the way organizations actually work — the trust between colleagues, the urgency of executive requests, the routine of paying invoices. If your defense depends on technology catching the threat, you've already lost.

The average BEC loss is over $125,000 per incident. Many organizations never recover the money. But every single one of these attacks can be stopped with the right processes — simple verification steps that cost nothing and take minutes.

Time Investment

This module takes about 25 minutes to complete:

  • Lesson 4.1: The Five Types of BEC (12 min)
  • Lesson 4.2: Why Technology Can’t Stop BEC (8 min)
  • Lesson 4.3: Processes That Actually Stop BEC (12 min)
  • Module 4 Quiz (5 min)