Latest Fraud Alerts For Businesses

Business Email Compromise and Spear Phishing: A Sharp Cost

NBT Bank has recently noticed an increase in a type of fraud referred to as Business Email Compromise (BEC). This occurs when fraudsters fool an employee into submitting a wire transfer by posing as a supplier, vendor, or business partner. In a new variation of BEC, fraudsters are using spear phishing attempts. Spear phishing refers to targeted emails going to a specific department or line of business. For example, the accounting and finance department or payroll.

The email contains a link to what looks like an encrypted file. When clicked, the user is prompted for their username and password on a fake login screen. With this information, fraudsters can sort through their emails for invoices, communications with banks, or other important financial information. They also use this information to make rules in the user’s inbox to automatically forward emails for real time information. Most recently, there has been an increase in attacks toward healthcare, professional services, higher education and real estate closing companies.

How to protect yourself:

• Don’t click on links in suspicious emails. Clicking a link could compromise your account or your network.
• Check to see if the request is consistent with how earlier wire payments have been made. Is your supplier asking you to wire funds to a new bank account or different location?
• Look carefully for small changes in email addresses that mimic legitimate email addresses. Do not rely on the display name shown, and always look for differences between the domain (@yahoo vs. @gmail) or sender name (ABCSupplies@ vs. ABCSupply@).
• Use an alternate method of communication to verify. If the request is an email, then call and speak to the person using a known phone number to get a verbal confirmation for the request.
• Implement dual control approvals with your bank for wire transfer requests. If an employee submits a request for a wire transfer, have a different employee who is aware of BEC and is willing to ask the right questions and provide approval to your financial institution.
• Spread the word. Coach your employees about this type of fraud and the warning signs.

If you have any questions, please contact NBT Bank Cash Management Support at 800-NBT-Bank (628-2265), option 8.

A massive data breach at one of the largest credit reporting agencies in the country could affect the personal information of up to 143 million consumers, almost half of the US population.

The breach exposes information including social security numbers, birthdays, addresses, and in some cases, driver’s license numbers. In addition, approximately 209,000 credit card numbers were exposed. Currently, it is believed the compromise lasted from mid-May through the end of July.

To Protect Yourself from Potential Fraud:

• Review your account activity regularly and contact us if you see anything unusual.
• Make sure you review your credit report annually to identify any unauthorized activity.
• Make sure that NBT Bank has your most up to date contact information in the event we need to contact you about any unusual activity.
• Watch out for scams related to the breach. Attackers are likely to take advantage of the situation and craft sophisticated phishing e-mails.
• Check the Report Fraud section on the NBT website for additional steps if you are a victim of identity theft.

It is important to remember NBT Bank has fraud monitoring in place that watches customer accounts for unusual activity. NBT will contact you in the event that we see any suspicious activity.

NBT Bank will continue to monitor the situation and provide further information as needed. For more information on the breach or to see if your information was affected, follow the link below:

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

Please contact our Call Center at 1-800-NBT-BANK (1-800-628-2265) if you see any unusual activity on your account.

Ransomware attacks continue to increase in frequency, and are becoming more sophisticated and targeted, meaning that an email containing an infected attachment can seem like it is coming from a trusted source such as a vendor or company. Malicious emails often no longer contain the typical indicators of phishing attempts, such as poor grammar and spelling, or "from" addresses which you do not recognize. It is extremely important to review all emails for content and purpose, and never open any attachments before verifying that the email is intended for you and is something which you were anticipating for a specific purpose.

What is Ransomware, and how does it happen to you? Ransomware attacks begin when an individual clicks on a malicious link or attachment in an email. Ransomware will then encrypt, or 'lock' all of the files on the user's computer, rendering the files unusable and inaccessible. After the files have been encrypted, the user will be prompted to pay a ransom to unlock their files.

Who is vulnerable? Ransomware attacks can be perpetrated against anyone, and caution must be practiced at all times.

How will you or your business be impacted?

If you fall victim to a Ransomware attack, the impact to individuals and businesses can reach far beyond removing the infection and recovering your files, and could also include:

• Temporary or permanent loss of sensitive or proprietary information. Your personal or business files could be temporarily inaccessible or lost forever.
• Disruption to regular operations. In the time it takes to respond to the attack, your computer files and the files on your network will be inaccessible, leaving your business inoperable or significantly impaired.
• Financial loss. In order to fully respond to and recover from this threat, you may be required to invest significant resources in repairing and restoring your device or network, whether it be through the use of an internal or external IT Professional, or in extreme cases where a lack of preparation has left you with no other option to recover your files, paying the ransom.
• Harm to an organization's reputation. Your business may suffer reputational harm when current customers or prospective clients learn that your business operations and their personal information have been affected by a Ransomware attack. Being prepared to appropriately prevent, detect, and respond to these events can help ensure a timely resumption of services and the protection of private customer information.

How to protect yourself: Prevent, Detect, Respond

• Keep your anti-virus software active and up to date. Your anti-virus software is only as good as your last update.
• Back up your files. Though creating a backup of your system will not prevent the execution of Ransomware, this preventative measure will allow for the recovery of data in an efficient and effective manner, without having to pay a ransom.
• Be wary of suspicious or unsolicited emails, especially those which contain attachments or links.
• Pay attention to anomalies when using your device, whether your computer seems to be running differently than usual, or if your computer is on a network of computers and seems to be communicating in a way in which it does not typically.
• Educate yourself on Ransomware by reading this and similar alerts, such as the one released by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Center (CCIRC), which can be found by typing the following link into your web browser: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/.
• Paying the ransom is not recommended, and there is no guarantee the files will be decrypted upon paying the ransom. It is always recommended that victims work with an IT professional first before negotiating with the attackers.

For More information on Ransomware including an example of what a ransomware email might look like, please review our previous alert on Ransomware. It can be found by typing in the following web address into your browser:

https://www.nbtbank.com/Business/Customer-Support/Fraud-Information-Center/LatestFraudAlert/Ransomware

If you have any questions, please contact NBT Bank at 1-800-NBT-Bank (628-2265)