Criminals swindle a construction firm out of large payment by impersonating a subcontractor

A recent case study undertaken by CFC Underwriters highlighted that construction companies don’t often believe that they are overly exposed to cyber risk.

Compared to many other industries, construction companies have been slower to take up cyber insurance. This is because they typically don’t hold large amounts of sensitive data and aren’t solely reliant on their computer systems to carry out their business operations.

The Construction Industry is no different to other Sectors.

This case highlights a few key points. It shows just how skillful cybercriminals are becoming at parting businesses from their money and how difficult it is for businesses to spot a fake.

In this case, the fraudster managed to successfully impersonate Microsoft and manipulate the project manager into volunteering his email login details; set up a forwarding rule to prevent any emails from the real subcontractor reaching the project manager and jeopardizing the scam; set up a fraudulent email address that was virtually identical to the genuine subcontractor’s; make it look as though the fake email sent to the project manager was part of the original email chain; and send over an identical invoice template to the one used by the genuine sub-contractor.

Cyber Crime is a threat to all Industries

Although this particular study is related to the construction industry, cyber crime is growing more and more throughout the business world.

Criminals are gaining access to businesses IT. It could be they demand a ransom to let you back into your own systems, or release your customers personal records, leading to not just loss of face and brand image, but stiff financial penalties when it is determined that your business was even partially at fault for lax security.

How would you cope with the fall out if multiple customers brought action against your business because their information had fallen into the wrong hands as a result of a breach of your systems? Cyber liability insurance can be arranged, covering the costs not just of defending any legal action taken against you, but also covering compensation payouts that you face.

Here at Real Insurance we offer Cyber Insurance unique to your business. Our specialist team are available to discuss your data security and offer protection for your business.

Call us on 0330 058 0260 for details