BEC: account compromise
Attacker inside a real mailbox monitors threads for weeks, then strikes when a payment is due
categorySocial engineering and human-targeted attacksseverityHighdetectabilityLowlabnot yet measured
Classification
26 values: 15 reviewed, 10 imported, 1 derived. What do these mean?
Exploitability
| Attack vector | |
|---|---|
| Reach (CVSS) | Network |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | Low |
| User interaction | Active |
| Attacker skill required | Medium |
| Resources required | Medium |
| Likelihood / prevalence | High |
| Maturity | Commoditized |
Impact & scope
| Severity | High |
|---|---|
| Impact | ConfidentialityFinancialIntegrity |
| Platform | LinuxmacOSOffice SuiteSaaSWindows |
| Environment | Cloud |
| Target asset class | HumanIdentity |
| Kill-chain phase (tactic) | Stealth |
Detection & telemetry
| Detectability | Low |
|---|---|
| Data sources (ATT&CK data components) | Application Log ContentCommand ExecutionLogon Session Creation |
Detection & response
Mitigated by 2
Detected by 1
- DET0286 attack-detection-strategy
Framework references
- Primary source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/security-101/what-is-business-email-compromise-bec
- attack: T1656 (primary)
Evidence & sources
- ev-0001 (Cyber Attack Taxonomy) — Name, definition and Example/ID taken verbatim from the 'Social engineering and human-targeted attacks' table, line 26 of Cyber-Attack-Taxonomy.md
- ev-0002 (MITRE Enterprise ATT&CK v19.2 (STIX 2.1)) — ATT&CK T1656 was revoked and replaced by T1684.001 in v19.2; facets imported from the replacement technique.
- ev-0003 (MITRE Enterprise ATT&CK v19.2 (STIX 2.1)) — ATT&CK usage prevalence: 21 groups/software/campaigns reference this technique (ATT&CK enterprise v19.2)