07 Apr Just leave it alone! Stop the bad eggs spoiling your business cake
Just leave it alone! Stop the bad eggs spoiling your business cake
‘Oh no, what’s happened to my email’ Love it or hate it we need those messages to pop through – no questions asked.
What happens when they get smelly and how can we stop it happening?
When the nasty authors of Business Email Compromises hatch their evil plans, they tune into how we work on a day to day basis. Messing with your mind – sure thing – it’s what they are all about. They may send messages through posing as the cool design department in your company asking for payment for the leaflets you had printed for the fun day or HR telling you that the pay rise has been agreed and to confirm your details – basically they will do anything to seem like an authentic message you can trust.
They have already sneaked into your corporate email and now they want to make you pay!
Usually with a mega urgent message, from the top level of the company, demanding dosh!
Keep your eyes peeled and your frosted fingers
These messages are hard to spot, lots of people get drawn into responding but there are a few things we can keep an eye out for that should wave a flag about their authenticity:
Bod Spolling, &nd GRAM-MATICAL, errors
If you are getting asked to transfer sums of money be very wary of messages that look like they have not been checked for the most basic of grammar and spelling. They usually signify a dodgy origin.
The MD doesn’t usually contact me directly
OK some of us do get the messages from the big bosses on an hourly basis, but if the SMT are telling you to transfer thousands to an offshore account you have never heard of and it seems a bit suspect – best bite the bullet and make the call to double check it’s been authorised.
Just do it now
Back to our offshore account, or any unusual account really, or any request to just ‘get this one transaction done quickly’, without the usual procedures that you follow could be a major indication of those bad eggs cracking in your business cake mix – anything that may leave a nasty taste in the mouth that comes from a trusted source may be a malign baker who is up to their neck in your email recipes.
This sounds really bad – how can we keep our emails safe?
Spam and eggs
Well AntiSpam really, just a belt and braces approach to keeping your email safe, the more protection your recipe book has, the harder it will be for someone to digest your business cake!
Only a fool knows everything
You just got to tell everyone in your company what’s what, oh and then remind them, and then remind them again. People forget, get distracted, are working from home, from the office, on their mobile, picking up email at all times of the day and night, with loads of distractions. It’s common sense to let your team know this sort of sinister behaviour happens and that the bad eggs are on the lookout for really nice people to do it to.
2FA
This is a fancy term for double checking at login, with your password and username and then a text message to authorise you using the account. Only the company big wigs need this, and it stops your carefully cultivated business cake recipe book getting opened by rogue cooks!