In 2023, the IC3 reported some shocking numbers. It received over 880,000 complaints from consumers regarding fraud. Total losses exceeded $12.5 billion. That’s not trivial bits of change and in fact, this just further shows how much businesses and their financial institutions are at risk of considerable losses, still today.
Fortunately, there are some simple processes that can be implemented to help stay on top of the risks. The top way attackers succeed remains phishing. It’s been at the top of the list since cyberattacks began way back in the days of AOL and dial up internet access. It’s not likely to be toppled, because frankly, it works very well.
Other than employee awareness training on what threats are there and how they evolve, there are other ways to protect the organization. Financial institutions are sharing advice with businesses and each other on how to mitigate such attacks.
One place to start is with online cash management services. Do research and ask questions and consider incorporating the following, if you haven't:
Multi-factor authentication—Like the MFA to log into online accounts, this should be required for various transactions within businesses and within financial institutions. MFA in this case, however, requires two or more authorizations before electronic funds or wire transfers can be executed. This also may be beneficial for completing ACH batch transactions.
Positive pay--This allows business owners and their financial institutions to identify suspicious ACH or check payments. It matches the checks a company issues with those presented at a bank.
Stop payment--This allows a business to cancel payment on potentially fraudulent checks. Stop payments can be initiated on a check-by-check basis or many at a time. Businesses should use it when fraud is suspected.
Permission-based access—Implementing this means restricting access to certain services to authorized users only. The fewer people who have rights to perform certain, higher risk actions, limits the organization’s and the financial institution's risk.
Fraudsters and cybercriminals don’t stop evolving their tactics and you should not stop trying to evolve to stay ahead of them. This means ongoing awareness training for all employees and staff (don’t forget about the executives) and evaluating and implementing new tools to help keep the criminals out and prevent them from being successful on your dime.
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