Resources

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 signature or reputation...
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.
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 function. However...
Guide

Enhancing Microsoft's Security with Fortra Advanced Email Security

As Microsoft’s security capabilities continue to evolve, many organizations are questioning how much they should rely on Microsoft for their email security needs. In this guide, we observe where Microsoft may not be enough and how deploying Fortra Advanced Email Security solutions can provide a more comprehensive protection.
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 often pretend to be C...
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 they know it or not...
Blog

Office 365 + DMARC: Best Practices for Protecting Your Company & Customers From Phishing Attacks

In 2021, Gartner includes DMARC, or known by its full name as Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, in its list of top 10 security projects . With very few exceptions, the best way for organizations to prevent getting impersonated in email attacks is to integrate DMARC into their Office 365-based email ecosystems. To understand why, let’s consider the benefits of deploying...
Guide

Anatomy of a Compromised Account

Credential phishing leads to compromised accounts, and compromised accounts lead to more credential phishing. In order to uncover the mechanics, the Agari Cyber Intelligence Division seeded more than 8,000 phishing sites with fake credentials and then monitored what happened next. In this report, you’ll discover more about how cybercriminals access and use compromised accounts, including How 50%...
Guide

Exaggerated Lion Threat Dossier: BEC Check Fraud Ring

Exaggerated Lion is a BEC cybercrime ring that operates out of Africa with members in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. This is one of the most prolific BEC groups ever discovered, targeting more than 3,000 employees at nearly 2,100 companies throughout the United States. Download this report for details including: How they name, register and host domains disguised to mimic trusted infrastructure. Their...
Guide

Behind the 'From' Lines: Email Fraud on a Global Scale

Organized criminals are targeting businesses with identity deception attacks that cause financial losses and broken trust, but Agari is changing the game. Using responsible active defense techniques to analyze criminal email accounts, the Agari Cyber Intelligence Division (ACID) unmasked 10 cybercriminal groups during a 10-month period. ACID has used the results of its work to: Warn financial...
Guide

Silent Starling Threat Dossier: BEC to VEC

Vendor email compromise is a new form of advanced email attack that uses compromised email accounts to target the global supply chain. With the cybercriminal group we’ve named Silent Starling, we see how devastating these attacks can be. Download the threat actor dossier to: How Silent Starling uses phishing email lures to target their victims Why compromised email accounts make email attacks easy...
Guide

Scattered Canary Threat Dossier

Business email compromise (BEC) has continued to grow into a billion-dollar industry as cybercriminals turn to it as their preferred scam. But with the West African gang we’ve named Scattered Canary, we have deeper insight into how BEC is connected to the rest of cybercrime, and why it has grown in recent years. Download the threat dossier to learn: How Scattered Canary grew from a one-man startup...
Guide

Scarlet Widow Part 2: BEC Bitcoin Laundry—Scam, Rinse, Repeat

While many cybercriminal gangs scam medium-sized and large corporations, Agari has now uncovered and documented the practices of a Nigeria-based scammer group, dubbed Scarlet Widow, that has evolved a different strategy focused on more vulnerable sectors such as school districts, universities, and nonprofits. In this report, we uncover: How Scarlet Widow transitioned from romance scams to tax...
Guide

Cosmic Lynx Threat Dossier: The Rise of Russian BEC

Cosmic Lynx is a Russia-based BEC cybercriminal organization that has significantly impacted the email threat landscape with sophisticated, high-dollar phishing attacks. In this threat dossier, you’ll discover key details about Cosmic Lynx, including: How Cosmic targets global corporations with incredibly sophisticated BEC attacks How Cosmic Lynx exploits DMARC controls to impersonate corporate...
Guide

Threat Intelligence Brief: The Geography of BEC

Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a worldwide scourge affecting more than three-fourths of the world’s economies. Around the globe, BEC cybercriminals operate with impunity to steal $26 billion each year. The Agari Cyber Intelligence Division conducted nearly 10,000 active engagements with BEC threat actors and captured the scope of BEC’s global footprint and trends. In this report, you’ll...