Vendor Email Compromise

Vendor Email Compromise (VEC) targets an entire supply chain and uses stolen information from one organization to defraud vendors, business partners and individuals.

What is Vendor Email Compromise?

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Anatomy of an Attack

Vendor Email Compromise spreads from one business to others like a contagion across the extended enterprise. Well-funded, organized cyber crime rings use hijacked business email accounts and social engineering tactics to gather insider information that is then used to create meticulously crafted and timed attacks. In this way supply chain partners inherit risk from each other as employees are tricked into performing seemingly innocuous, but harmful actions.

 

PHASE 1: Initial Access

Compromise Email Account

The first step in the VEC attack chain is to compromise business email accounts that can be used to collect intelligence to exploit later in the attack process. Phishing messages often mimic Microsoft OneDrive or DocuSign login pages, as well as voicemail and fax notifications.

The Agari Advantage

Detect Fake Email From Legitimate Accounts

VEC attacks originate from legitimate email accounts that have been hijacked. Messages pass domain authentication and sail right through whitelists and other security controls.

On visual inspection, even highly trained security experts can’t spot them, and they contain highly-convincing business and personal details.

Agari detects these rapidly evolving VEC attacks and can prevent them from reaching employee inboxes through policy-based, automated forensic analysis that understands the identity behind the message.

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Detect fake email from legitimate accounts

The Emergence of VEC

Agari researchers uncovered a West African cybercriminal organization that uses VEC to surveil the communications of hundreds of companies and steal millions from their global supply chains.

This guide offers a first-hand, in-depth look into how the VEC attack chain unfolds. 

Get the guide >

Email Account Takeover Protection

The first step in preventing a VEC attack is detecting compromised business email accounts.

Agari inspects incoming messages, but also messages flowing from employee-to-employee across the organization for indicators of compromise.

This unique approach can detect fraudulent messages originating from legitimate email accounts.

Read the datasheet >

See Cloud Email Protection In Action

Try this product tour to see why companies use Cloud Email Protection to protect their inboxes.

Solutions

Protect against costly advanced email attacks.

Cloud Email Protection
Suspicious Email Analysis