In most organizations, Business Email Compromise is still viewed as just another type of phishing attack aimed at sending a convincing email. In practice, this is only a superficial view.
BEC is first and foremost an attack on digital identity.
The attacker uses email only as an entry point. The real objective is to obtain credentials, take over business accounts, and gain permissions that allow operating on behalf of employees and executives.
Once this happens, the nature of the attack changes. The email no longer looks suspicious. It looks completely legitimate. Payment requests, changes to vendor details, internal requests to systems or the finance department. Everything is carried out from a real account with real permissions.
At this stage, email filtering systems struggle to detect the threat. There is no malicious code, no suspicious link, and no abnormal content. There is simply a stolen identity.
This is why effective defense against BEC must go beyond protecting the mailbox. It must include early detection of identity theft attempts through phishing, strong protection of identities and permissions, behavioral monitoring after login, and rapid containment before the attacker is able to move laterally across the organization.
BEC is not a threat to the email system.
It is a threat to the organization’s digital identity.
