Protect your users from stealthy BEC attacks

A BEC attack is a type of cybercrime where attackers impersonate a trusted figure, like a company executive or vendor, via email to trick employees into transferring funds or sensitive data. It relies on social engineering rather than malware, making it difficult to detect with traditional security tools.

There are several types, including CEO fraud, vendor email compromise, payroll diversion, and invoice scams. In each case, the attacker poses as someone familiar and uses deceptive tactics to manipulate the recipient into acting, often applying pressure or urgency.  

Yes. Because BEC emails often don’t contain malware or suspicious links, they can easily slip past standard filters. That’s why email security solutions that analyze user behavior, content, and context are essential to catch these sophisticated social engineering threats.

• On the attacker side, cyber-criminals are now using AI to craft more convincing emails, mimic writing styles, and automate the targeting of victims, which lowers the barrier to entry and makes BEC attacks harder to detect.  

• On the defense side, AI-driven security solutions like Darktrace / EMAIL use multi-layered AI to identify anomalies in communication patterns, flag suspicious behavior, and stop BEC attacks in real time.

Common signs of a BEC attempt include unusual requests for credentials, wire transfers or gift cards, emails with slight domain spoofing (e.g. @yourc0mpany.com), sudden changes in payment details, and urgent language encouraging secrecy or haste.

Darktrace uses AI to analyze the behavior of users, devices, and emails in real time. Instead of relying on static rules or known threat signatures, it builds a “pattern of life” for each user and detects the subtle deviations – such as unusual email tone, timing, or relationships – that may indicate a BEC attack, even if no malicious links or attachments are present.

Because Darktrace builds a continuous picture of every user and sender’s normal behavior, it excels at identifying anomalies. It detects social engineering tactics by evaluating language patterns, conversation history, behavioral context, and unusual sender-recipient dynamics. This allows it to flag suspicious emails ,even if the email contains no traditional indicators of compromise.

Darktrace / EMAIL uses AI to not only detect but also autonomously respond to BEC threats in real time. When an attack is identified, it can take protective actions such as holding or modifying emails, rewriting URLs, stripping attachments, or alerting security teams – stopping the threat before it reaches the inbox or causes harm.

Darktrace is designed to detect the subtle symptoms of an account compromise, such as unusual outbound activity, attempting lateral movement, or accessing sensitive files. If detected, it can take autonomous actions to contain the threat such as limiting email actions, locking accounts, or isolating affected devices from the network.

Darktrace responds in real time. Our AI identifies threats as they emerge and can autonomously take action within seconds, long before a human analyst would typically be alerted. This speed is critical in stopping BEC attacks before financial or reputational damage occurs.

Yes. Darktrace’s coverage extends beyond email to include collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams. Our AI analyzes chat content, behavioral anomalies, and unusual communication patterns within Teams to identify and mitigate potential social engineering attempts or lateral movement that originate through internal messaging channels.