Innovative
new capability helps detect BEC attacks that impersonate execs
Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today
announced a new capability designed to enhance protection against Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI),
this innovation will be integrated into multiple products to raise the alarm
when emails are suspected of impersonating an executive or other high-profile
user.
“This is the first time
I’ve seen email writing style analysis launched in our industry,” said Michael
Osterman at Osterman Research. “This is a compelling demonstration
of AI being used for essential cybersecurity protection against today’s most
financially impactful attack vector — email.”
Trend Micro Writing Style
DNA is a new layer of protection against BEC attacks, which uses AI to
“blueprint” a user’s style of writing, employing more than 7,000 writing
characteristics. When an email is suspected of impersonating a high-profile
user, the style is compared to this trained AI model and a warning is sent to
the implied sender, the recipient and the IT department.
“The future threat landscape
requires AI-powered protection that leverages expert
rules and machine learning,” said Eva Chen, CEO
of Trend Micro. “We
are proud to add another industry first in this area.”
Chen continued: “This new
capability is the perfect complement to our existing email security as well as
the free phishing simulation and awareness service we’re making available to
businesses. In a world of increasingly sophisticated and financially damaging
email fraud, multiple layers are needed to put organizations back on the
offensive.”
In 2017, 94 percent of all ransomware blocked
by Trend Micro was distributed via email. In addition, total global losses from
BEC scams are predicted to
reach $9 billion in
2018, with an average loss of $132,000 per BEC incident. Businesses need to be
able thwart phishing — both through training and technology.
BEC attacks impersonate the CEO, president or managing director of a
company nearly 70 percent of the time, with urgent requests for an
employee to make a wire transfer or reply with sensitive data. These
are hard to detect because the emails usually do not have an attachment or URL
link, which are more commonly recognized as suspicious.
Writing Style DNA provides
authorship analysis to complement existing AI inspection layers that focus on
email intent and attacker behaviors by checking info in the email header and
the email content. In doing so, it’s able to spot attackers who hijack
legitimate domains/accounts to circumvent traditional filters. Executives can
also provide feedback on the flagged emails to improve detection and reduce
false positives.
Writing Style DNA will be
released in June 2018 on Cloud App Security (CAS) for Microsoft Office 365 and
ScanMail for Microsoft Exchange (SMEX), and will be included with existing BEC
protections at no extra cost. The beta period started mid-March (for SMEX) and
the beginning of April (for CAS).
However, Business Email
Compromise is just one of many email-borne threats. Another serious risk to
organizations comes from phishing, where spoofed messages are used to trick
users into downloading malware or divulging personal details and log-ins.
That’s why Trend Micro has
introduced a free phishing simulation platform, Phish
Insight,
which enables businesses of all sizes and budgets to test their employees’
understanding of scam emails. Organizations can then tailor an education
program based on the simulation results using material provided through the
platform.
Click here to read more.
About Trend Micro
Trend Micro
Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the
world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for
consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data
centers, cloud environments, networks and endpoints. All our products work
together to seamlessly share threat intelligence and provide a connected threat
defense with centralized visibility and control, enabling better, faster
protection. With more than 6,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world’s
most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro enables
organizations to secure their journey to the cloud. For more information, visit
www.trendmicro.com.hk
.
