Criminals are all over the internet targeting real estate brokers and other businesses. One of their most harmful tactics is attemping to gain access to your company email without you becoming aware; once they gain access, they watch for an opportunity to send a well-timed fraudulent message to try and trick you into wiring funds to them instead of to the legitimate recipient.
Phishing is the single most common form of cyber crime
An estimated 3.4 billion emails a day are sent by cyber criminals — this is over a trillion phishing emails per year.
In particular, these scams target real estate agencies and brokers, but all businesses need to be vigilant, and employee awareness of the risks is critical.
Please be on the lookout for anything 'odd' when transferring funds, such as a last-minute change to the recipient of the funds bank information sent via email, and when in doubt it is a good idea to confirm with the receiving party directly before wiring funds.
WSD offers phishing education and simulations
For added peace of mind, WebSight Design offers a phishing education service where we simulate phishing attacks on your company as a learning experience for your team, to help you better recognize and prevent real attacks from being successful. Training documents, videos, and quizzes are included with our simulations.
For more information on phishing or on our Information Security services please visit our Security Awareness page.
