Resources

Article

BEC: Why This Basic Threat Is Difficult to Detect

Revenue lost to payment fraud saw an increase in every major global region from 2021 to 2022, and odds are your organization is still seeing email impersonation threats in inboxes. But why? This article provides insights on Business Email Compromise to help you understand just why these threats are so effective for cybercriminals.
Blog

The Science Behind the Scenes: How Machine Learning Combats Phishing Attacks and BEC

Because email remains the most ubiquitous form of business communication, it continues to be a favorite attack vector for cybercriminals. Email has always been vulnerable because it was not originally designed with security or privacy in mind. As a result, email security vendors emerged to protect this critical communication channel. In the early days, many vendors used...
Guide

Machine Learning Models in Cloud Email Protection

Traditional email security products struggle to detect email impersonation threats such as Business Email Compromise (BEC) and spear phishing campaigns. These threats consistently bypass defenses that rely on signatures and policies like Secure Email Gateways and native-cloud email filters. This guide breaks down how Fortra uses advanced data science, including machine learning models, to find and mitigate attacks that slip past traditional email defenses.
Article

Effective Strategies for Protecting Against BEC

While BEC is incredibly simple and effective, it is not unstoppable. Organizations need to go beyond traditional email security measures to detect, block, and prevent email impersonations. Learn what steps need to be taken in order to combat BEC and protect your organization from this popular attack.
Blog

The Seven Deadly Sins of Cybersecurity

Knowing what your employees are up to, enables you to strengthen your security policies. We all make mistakes at work from time to time. And sometimes we do things we know we shouldn’t. In the fast paced modern world, it’s easy enough to send an email to the wrong person or end up taking company information home. Often the consequences will be a bit of embarrassment, but every...
Blog

Advanced Information Security Features for Microsoft Office 365

In the last few years, Microsoft 365 (M365) has eclipsed all other cloud providers to emerge as the most widely used enterprise cloud service and the latest survey data shows that adoption of M365 is still increasing. It is not just impressive in its adoption rates, Microsoft has also been incremental evolving business technology; organizations now rely on cloud technology to...
Blog

What Is an Enterprise’s Secondary Line of Defense Against Phishing Emails?

Following a multi-layered approach to phishing defense is a good idea, but using what you have close to home is best when it comes to a sensible security posture. In practice, a robust security awareness training program is key to instruct employees on what to look for when trying to spot phishing emails that may have landed in their inboxes.
Blog

What Is an Enterprise’s Primary Line of Defense Against Phishing Emails?

Through a layered approach utilizing a comprehensive solution as the primary defense, Fortra fills major gaps in email platform security by protecting users from external threats and safeguarding your sensitive data from being leaked both inside and outside your organization.
Blog

Holiday Season Triggers Rise in Counterfeit Activity

Counterfeit activity increases every year during the pre-holiday shopping blitz -- most notably Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and Hanukkah. Arm yourself with defenses now to combat ever-evolving counterfeiting methods during peak retail shopping season.
Blog

Financials & Card Data Top Q3 Targets on the Dark Web

In Q3, credit unions nearly overtook national banks as the top targeted industry on the Dark Web, according to recent data from Fortra’s PhishLabs.
Blog

Emails Reported as Malicious Reach Four-Quarter High in Q3

The volume of malicious emails reported in corporate inboxes has reached a four-quarter high, according to the latest data from Fortra's PhishLabs.
Blog

What Is Whaling Phishing & How Does It Work?

“Whaling” phishing fraud attacks target the C-suite of a company which creates high risk of extremely sensitive, mission-critical data being stolen and exposed. Fortunately, protecting the organization from these attacks is possible. Whaling phishing is a type of phishing attack targeting larger, high-value targets, which is why it's called "Whaling." Attackers themselves...
Press Release

Forbes: 8 Ways To Keep Your Social Security Number Safe From Identity Theft

It’s difficult to control your Social Security number in the wild. In his September contribution to Forbes Advisor, John Wilson discusses the most common scams involving Social Security numbers and provides 8 steps individuals can take to prevent identity fraud.   Originally published in Forbes Advisor: “For too many of us, our SSNs are already in the hands of miscreants,...
Article

How to Mitigate Online Counterfeit Threats

The broad scope of counterfeit campaigns and unclear boundaries of abuse make it challenging to successfully mitigate online threats targeting retail brands. There is a fine line between infringement and fair use of publicly made materials, as well as immeasurable online environments where counterfeit campaigns may live and grow.
Blog

What Is Email Spoofing & How You Protect Against It

What is Email Spoofing? Email spoofing is one of the most common forms of cybercriminal activity, specifically a form of identity deception that's widely used in phishing and spam attacks. It underpins the mechanism required to conduct hacking activities, and it can take many forms. Unfortunately, most email users will eventually receive an email that has been spoofed—whether...
Article

Hybrid Vishing. It's Such A Thing.

In this podcast, John Wilson, senior fellow for threat research at, discusses how vishing, a tactic used to gain PII information from people through phone messages is - like its success - on the rise. Gain insight into this devious scam and the best defense against it. ...