Microsoft: corporate email hacking takes 2 hours — victims have no chance to defend themselves

The Microsoft Security Intelligence group recently researched corporate email compromise (BEC) attacks and found that attackers act extremely quickly, with some steps taking only a few minutes. According to Microsoft’s estimates, it takes 2 hours to hack into a corporate email, during which time victims may not even notice suspicious activity.

Microsoft Security Intelligence analyzed a real-life email attack that was carried out by a hacker on January 5, 2023. The whole process — from logging in using stolen credentials to registering domains with typos (Typosquatting) and spoofing the email server — took the hacker only 127 minutes. Such a fast attack development ensures that targets have minimal opportunity to detect signs of fraud and take preventive measures.

The cybercriminal logged into the victim’s account on January 5 and spent 2 hours searching the mailbox for the appropriate emails to intercept. The hacker created a rule for the inbox: to move emails from the company that owns the corporate email to a specific folder. 1 minute later, the hacker sent a malicious email to the victim’s business partner.

According to Thrive Chief Information Security Officer Chip Gibbons, in 2023, compromising corporate emails will be the main method of attack by cybercriminals and the easiest way to penetrate an organization.

According to TrendMicro, approximately 3 out of 10 cybercriminals are women. The researchers revealed the gender of hackers in their latest study, busting the myth that only men are cybercriminals.