Spear Phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC)
Targeted phishing and corporate fraud
Unlike mass phishing, spear phishing targets a specific person or position, using real information gathered beforehand (the boss's name, ongoing projects, usual vendors) to be much more convincing. Business Email Compromise (BEC) takes this a step further in the corporate environment: the attacker impersonates a real executive or vendor, often by compromising or spoofing their email account, to request an urgent bank transfer or a change of payment details, causing multimillion-dollar losses to companies around the world. The most effective defense isn't only technical but procedural: any bank account change or unusual transfer must be verified through a second channel, such as a phone call to that person's already known number, before carrying it out.