Security News > 2020 > December > FBI warns of BEC scammers using email auto-forwarding in attacks
The FBI is warning US companies about scammers actively abusing auto-forwarding rules on web-based email clients to increase the likelihood of successful Business Email Compromise attacks.
BEC scammers used email rules added to the target' web-based email clients to hide their activity while impersonating employees or business partners.
"According to recent FBI reporting, cybercriminals are implementing auto-forwarding rules on victims' web-based email clients to conceal their activities," the FBI said.
The FBI also provides information on two attacks from August 2020 where BEC scammers made use of web-based email forwarding rules to target US-based manufacturing and medical equipment companies.
The FBI also warned private industry partners of threat actors abusing both Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite in BEC attacks in two separate notifications [1, 2]. "The scams are initiated through specifically developed phish kits designed to mimic the cloud-based email services in order to compromise business email accounts and request or misdirect transfers of funds," the FBI said in a PIN sent on March 3.