Question: A small family-owned construction company made extensive use of online banking and automated clearing house (ACH) transfers. Employees logged in with both a company and user-specific ID and password. Two challenge questions had to be answered for transactions over $1,000. The owner was notified that an ACH transfer of $10,000 was initiated by an unknown
A small family-owned construction company made extensive use of online banking and automated
clearing house (ACH) transfers. Employees logged in with both a company and user-specific ID and
password. Two challenge questions had to be answered for transactions over $1,000.
The owner was notified that an ACH transfer of $10,000 was initiated by an unknown source. They
contacted the bank and identified that in just one week cyber criminals had made six transfers from the company bank accounts, totaling $550,000. How? One of their employees had opened an email from what they thought was a materials supplier but was instead a malicious email laced with malware from an imposter account.
ATTACK:
Cyber criminals were able to install malware onto the company’s computers, using a keylogger to capture the banking credentials.
A keylogger is software that silently monitors computer keystrokes and sends the information to a cyber criminal. They can then access banking and other financial services online, using valid account numbers and passwords.
RESPONSE:
The bank was able to retrieve only $200,000 of the stolen money in the first weeks, leaving a loss of
$350,000. The bank even drew over $220,000 on the business’ line of credit to cover the fraudulent
transfers. Not having a cybersecurity plan in place delayed the company response to the fraud.
The company also sought a cybersecurity forensics firm to:
• help them complete a full cybersecurity review of their systems
• identify what the source of the incident was
• recommend upgrades to their security software
IMPACT:
The company shut down their bank account and pursued legal action to recover its losses. The business recovered the remaining $350,000 with interest
