BEC Tools: 6 Black Hat Techniques and 7 Ways to Fight Back

What Are Business Email Compromise (BEC) Tools?

Business Email Compromise (BEC) tools are cyber tools used by attackers to manipulate email systems and deceive employees into performing unauthorized actions, typically involving financial transactions or sensitive information disclosure. These tools exploit human vulnerabilities and technical weaknesses within corporate email systems. 

The primary objective is to impersonate high-level executives or trusted partners to initiate fraudulent requests. A BEC attack starts with initial reconnaissance, where attackers gather detailed information about the target organization. This includes identifying key personnel, understanding the company’s financial processes, and studying communication styles. 

Once sufficient information is collected, attackers use this knowledge to craft convincing emails that mimic legitimate requests. These emails are designed to avoid raising suspicion, often urging immediate action or confidentiality to pressure the recipient into complying without thorough verification. 

Black Hat Tools and Techniques Used in BEC Attacks

Attackers can use several types of tools and techniques to compromise business emails.

1. Phishing Kits

Phishing kits are comprehensive tools that cybercriminals use to launch phishing attacks. They often include pre-crafted email templates, website clones, and hosting services, making it easier to deceive victims into providing sensitive information. They are designed to mimic legitimate business communications to boost their success rates.

The simplicity provided by phishing kits allows even less skilled attackers to launch sophisticated campaigns. These kits are frequently updated with new features and techniques to evade detection by security tools.

2. Email Spoofing Tools

Email spoofing tools enable attackers to forge sender addresses, making emails appear to come from a trusted source. This manipulation is vital in BEC scams, as it helps to trick recipients into believing the authenticity of the email. 

Tools such as SMTP relays or direct email spoofing software are commonly employed in these attacks. The sophistication of these tools varies, with some allowing customization of email headers and contents to evade spam filters.

3. Malware

Malware typically in BEC attacks includes keyloggers and remote access trojans (RATs), which are discreetly installed on the victim’s system to steal credentials or sensitive business information. Once installed, these malicious programs can perform a range of actions from logging keystrokes to capturing screenshots without the user’s knowledge.

Besides direct financial theft, stolen data from malware can be used for subsequent scams, increasing the breadth of damage.

4. Credential Harvesting Tools

Credential harvesting tools are designed to collect login details and other critical credentials during BEC attacks. These tools often accompany phishing or spoofed websites, capturing input data as unsuspecting users attempt to log in. 

This data is then exploited to gain unauthorized access to business accounts. Credential theft not only allows unauthorized financial transactions but can also lead to broader data breaches.

5. Crypters and Packers

Crypters and packers are used by attackers to conceal malware from antivirus software, making the detection and removal of malicious payloads more challenging. Crypters encrypt the malware code, while packers compress and obfuscate it, hiding it within seemingly benign files.

These tools enhance the longevity and efficacy of malware involved in BEC schemes by evading standard detection methods. They are constantly evolving, making it harder for security teams to detect them. 

6. Black Hat AI Tools

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have led to the development of new tools that cybercriminals exploit to conduct more effective business email compromise (BEC) attacks. These tools, based on generative AI models and designed with malicious intent, are powerful assets for hackers looking to orchestrate sophisticated phishing campaigns.

Black hat AI tools can be used to create highly convincing, personalized emails at large scale. They can produce communications that are not only persuasive but also strategically deceptive, significantly raising the risk to individuals and organizations. Researchers have reported that threat actors are now offering malicious AI modules for sale on the dark web, using state of the art generative AI technology to automate the creation of deceptive emails.

Tools and Techniques to Protect Against BEC Attacks 

Fortunately, there are several tools and techniques that organizations can use to protect themselves from business email compromise attacks.

1. Email Authentication Protocols

Email authentication protocols, like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, help verify the origin of emails, reducing the chances of email spoofing. These protocols provide mechanisms to check if incoming emails align with the established policies of the sender domain, offering a way to authenticate legitimate emails.

Incorporating these protocols helps organizations safeguard their communication channels. By enforcing strict validation, they can discourage attackers and reduce the effectiveness of fraudulent emails from reaching their targets.

2. Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) adds an extra security layer by requiring additional verification factors beyond just passwords. MFA can drastically reduce the efficacy of credential theft, as access to the account requires more than stolen information. Common methods include SMS codes, authenticator app tokens, or hardware security keys.

Implementing MFA protects critical business accounts even if credentials are compromised, ensuring a higher level of security for sensitive operations and data access.

3. Email Filtering and Anti-Phishing Solutions

Email filtering and anti-phishing solutions automatically analyze incoming emails for malicious intent, filtering out potential BEC attacks before they reach users. These solutions use advanced algorithms to detect anomalies, fraudulent links, and known phishing signatures, providing a robust defense against email-based threats.

As BEC attacks grow more sophisticated, it’s important to use email-specific security technologies. This ensures that organizations remain a step ahead, preventing malicious emails from causing financial and reputational damage.

4. Endpoint Security Tools

Endpoint security tools protect individual network points like desktops, laptops, and mobile devices from becoming entry points to larger network breaches. Comprehensive endpoint security solutions can detect and mitigate threats in real time, providing protection against malware used in BEC attacks.

Regular updates and integrations with wider security frameworks ensure that endpoint devices do not become the weakest link in organizational security.

5. Vendor Risk Management

Vendor risk management involves assessing and managing the risks associated with third-party suppliers that have access to organizational systems and data. Properly vetting these entities and establishing secure data handling protocols reduces the risk of BEC attacks propagating through less secure systems.

Implementing stringent controls, regular audits, and security reviews of vendors minimizes the potential for compromise and ensures that third-party actions do not undermine an organization’s security posture.

6. Employee Training and Awareness

Employee training programs are essential in promoting awareness and preparedness against BEC threats. Regular training sessions should cover recognizing phishing attempts, the importance of using secure communication channels, and the procedures for reporting suspicious activities.

Empowering employees with knowledge and best practices forms a human firewall against fraudulent email intrusions. This reduces the success rate of BEC scams within a company.

7. AI-Powered Email Security Solutions

AI-powered email security solutions utilize the latest artificial intelligence algorithms, including generative AI models, to review communication patterns, identify and flag unusual activities or anomalies that could indicate a BEC attempt. 

Advanced solutions can identify patterns that indicate the use of generative AI in attacks, even when they are difficult to discern by humans. They can also perform deeper semantic and contextual analysis of email communications to identify and block suspicious communications.

Preventing AI-Based BEC Attacks with Perception Point

Perception Point’s approach to combating GenAI-generated social engineering, particularly Business Email Compromise (BEC) threats, involves an advanced detection solution that utilizes Transformers, AI models adept at understanding the semantic context of text. This method is effective due to its ability to recognize and analyze patterns characteristic of Large Language Model (LLM)-generated content.

The process works as follows:

• Pattern identification: The system groups emails with similar semantic content, allowing it to pinpoint specific patterns indicative of LLM-generated text. This model was initially trained on a vast array of malicious emails and continues to evolve with exposure to new attacks.
• Probability scoring and analysis: When an email is processed, the model evaluates its content, identifying the likelihood of the email being LLM-generated and its potential for malicious intent. It also provides a detailed textual analysis to identify the nature of the threat.
• Minimizing false positives: To address the challenge of false positives, Perception Point’s model integrates insights from the previous steps with additional data, such as sender reputation and authentication protocols, to accurately determine if the content is AI-generated and whether it is malicious, spam, or legitimate.

By implementing this innovative AI technology in their multi-layered detection platform, Perception Point provides a robust defense against GenAI-generated BEC threats. This approach leverages the identifiable patterns in LLM-generated content, advanced image recognition, anti-evasion algorithms, and patented dynamic engines. Perception Point can be used to proactively neutralize these evolving threats, preventing them from reaching the inboxes of end-users and causing damage.

Learn more in our blog post: An AI for an AI: LLM-Based Detection of GPT-Generated BEC Attacks