Don't Get Scammed in the Payment Protection Program: Breadcrumb Cybersecurity Offers Tips to Help Small Businesses

That's why Breadcrumb Cybersecurity is sounding the alarm to small businesses that might be prey for accelerated fraud activity surrounding these loans.

Unfortunately, business disruption and reduced sales weren't the only COVID-related issues small business owners dealt with in 2020.

We saw increased activity as threat groups leveraged the COVID-19 situation to defraud businesses from their funding, and the PPP program has created an entirely new playbook with a lucrative opportunity, says Brian Horton, CEO of Breadcrumb Cybersecurity, which helps companies navigate a wide range of advanced cybercrime, including ransomware, financial crime, intellectual property theft, destructive attacks and employee and insider fraud.

Throughout the first round of the PPP and disbursement of Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), the Breadcrumb Incident Response team investigated numerous wire fraud scams where small businesses were victimized and had their funds stolen, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars for local organizations. Most commonly, thieves would hack into email systems to reroute ACH deposits and have the funds deposited into their own accounts.

Threat groups are intentional and calculative regarding the timing of their strikes. They are keenly aware of when businesses are typically sending or receiving large amount of funds, Horton said, citing one instance where COVID-19 related work from home delays were used as a pretext to defraud an organization out of $2 million.

Typically businesses call the Breadcrumb Incident Response team when they have already been victimized or while fraudulent activity is in process, Horton notes. We encourage small businesses to reach out to establish a relationship now so we can jump in immediately if warranted. Emergencies can happen to anyone, and every second matters. (PRN/1 day ago) https://www.newkerala.com/us-news.php