"BEC Attacks Surge 81% in 2022"
According to security researchers at Abnormal Security, recorded business email compromise (BEC) attacks increased by more than 81% during 2022 and by 175% over the past two years, with open rates on malicious emails also surging. The researchers found that the median open rate for text-based BEC emails during the second half of 2022 was 28%. More worrying still, the researchers revealed that 15% of read malicious emails were replied to by corporate employees. The researchers noted that employees at all levels of an organization engage with BEC emails, but 78% of entry-level sales staff read and replied to these malicious messages. Staffers in transportation sector companies (16%) were most likely to reply to attacks, followed by automotive (9%) and healthcare (8%). The researchers also found that there was a concerning lack of reporting to security teams: just 2% of known attacks were flagged. The researchers stated that BEC attacks increasingly target smaller companies. The researchers saw a 145% increase in malicious emails aimed at SMB inboxes.