Security News > 2020 > October > Cybercriminals Stole $15 Million From 150 Companies in BEC Attacks
A newly detailed business email compromise campaign has resulted in more than $15 million being diverted from at least 150 organizations worldwide, cybersecurity company Mitiga reports.
The threat actor behind the attacks relied exclusively on Office 365 to reduce suspicion on the utilized rogue email addresses, which were impersonating senior executives in an attempt to trick employees of targeted companies to send funds to attacker-controlled bank accounts.
In one incident, which resulted in a multi-million-dollar global transaction, Mitiga discovered that the "Threat actor's attack extended over several months," that it was carefully prepared, and that it also involved the "Monitoring and manipulation of email traffic before and during the transfer of funds."
The security firm discovered that the threat actor used the same Office 365 account to target other organizations as well, with more than 150 fake domains identified to date.
"Our professional assessment, shared by the authorities we're collaborating with, led us to determine that we have identified an extensive global BEC campaign, run by one or more cybercrime groups, that leverages the credibility of Office 365 to perform highly efficient Business Email Compromise attacks," Mitiga notes.