As we’ve written before, cybercrime continues to be one of the top risks facing businesses and organizations. It’s also a top priority regulators and prosecutors. The most common form of cybercrime is Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud, an email phishing scheme wherein the cybercriminal impersonates a company executive and convinces an employee to transfer money into fake accounts. Between 2013 and 2018, such BEC attacks have resulted in $12 billion in potential losses.
Though BEC fraud is understood to have originated in Nigeria, Americans might be surprised to learn that the phishing email they received last week may very well have come from someone operating just down the street. According to a recent study by Agri Data, approximately 25% of BEC attackers operate from the United States. More alarming for Atlantans, about 7% of these individuals are our neighbors, the highest percentage of any American city. One reason for this concentration may be that Atlanta is home to a large number of payment-processing companies. As the senior director of research at Agri explained, “the talent is already living here.”
The attorneys at Chilivis Grubman represent clients of all sizes in connection with data breach and cybersecurity matters, including regulatory obligations and litigation arising therefrom. If you need assistance with such a matter, please contact us today.