CNA provides these eight tips:

1. 1. 1. Increase companywide awareness and understanding of BEC scams.
    2. Create a company domain name instead of using free, web-based email accounts.
    3. Carefully monitor information posted on social media and external-facing company websites.
    4. Train employees to be cautious of urgent or secretive email requests.
    5. Implement IT and financial security procedures that include a two-step verification process for all money transfers, such as a telephone call to verify significant transactions, or a digital signature requirement.
    6. Teach employees to avoid opening unusual email or attachments or clicking on emailed links.
    7. Consider refraining from using the "reply" option when responding to business email and instead have your customers forward the message by typing or selecting the correct email from an address book.
    8. Implement two-factor authentication (TFA) for all corporate email accounts, which requires a user to verify identity beyond a password, such as through fingerprints or a hardware token.

Because the end goal of social engineering fraud is wire transfer, Larson advises that businesses mitigate their risk exposure with these six best practices:

1. 1. 1. Require all wire transfers include a verification call with the vendor.
    2. Routinely check email addresses to determine their legitimacy.
    3. Designate a second person to review all wire transfers.
    4. Regularly educate employees on new schemes as they arise.
    5. Reduce the number of company vendors.
    6. Establish and enforce rigorous internal controls.

Even a business with thorough preventive protocols can fall victim to business email compromise and other types of social engineering fraud. To help protect their clients against this scam, brokers can provide awareness and education and ensure that their clients have the right insurance protection available for this exposure.

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How to protect your insurance clients against the latest social engineering scams

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