How Email Attacks Compromise eCommerce Systems (and How to Prevent Them)

According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach is $4.4 M. Attackers can manipulate the orders and even compromise customer data.  Such breaches can negatively impact a company’s reputation and erode customer trust.

Once the cybercriminals get access to an email account, they try to send emails to the contact list asking for money. The attacker may request the recipients’ employees, customers, and partners for payments.

How does BEC work?

Attackers don’t start with the email. They start with the business.

• Recon and targeting
  They map the company first. Public data, employee roles, vendors, and invoice cycles. Larger organizations with frequent high-value transactions get priority, especially where finance and HR teams handle regular payments.
• Account access or impersonation
  They move on to email access. Sometimes through compromised credentials, sometimes by spoofing. Lookalike domains get used when direct access fails, close enough to pass a quick glance inside an ongoing thread.
• Execution inside normal workflows
  The email doesn’t look unusual. It asks for payments or sensitive data in a way that fits existing conversations. Urgency gets layered in with fake deadlines, penalties, or deal pressure, and newer employees get targeted more often since they’re less likely to question the request.

BEC works because it follows normal business flow, not because it breaks it, which is why it keeps slipping through controls that look solid on paper. 

How to prevent business email compromise (BEC)?

Business owners should follow eCommerce cybersecurity practices to prevent BEC. We have listed some of the best ways to avoid BEC:

Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) can help to increase the security of an email account. With MFA, you would require 2 or more steps to verify your identity so that you can log in. For example, you can use your account login details along with the authentication code sent to your registered mobile number. This makes it difficult for the cybercriminals to access your files or account. Incorporate MFA for all your employees and administrative logins.

Enforce DMARC

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is a security protocol that blocks attackers from sending spam emails in your domain’s name. You should implement and enforce it to gain the maximum benefit from it. DMARC compliance keeps your domain safe from cybercrooks who may attempt to send emails impersonating you. If it is not enabled, cybercriminals can trick recipients into opening spam messages. You can protect your domain from phishing and spoofing with DMARC compliance.

No one wants their emails to end up in the spam folder. Some email providers have already made DMARC compliance mandatory. If your emails are compliant with DMARC, they will reach the recipient’s inbox rather than being blocked or flagged as spam. This results in improved email deliverability for mass mailing. It is important to configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication checks for your organization members. You should train your company’s employees to check if the email passes all of the authentication checks.

Enhance the security of VIP accounts

While every account needs baseline security, attackers don’t treat them equally. They go after the ones tied to money or authority, which usually means executives and finance.

• High-value accounts get targeted first: Once a CEO or CFO's mailbox is in play, things move fast. One email can trigger a payment, and nobody slows down because the name looks right.
• Extra controls aren’t optional here: Strong MFA, tighter monitoring, and login anomaly checks make a difference, especially when access comes from locations or sessions that don’t match normal behavior.
• Display name spoofing still works: It’s simple, but it keeps landing. Employees trust what looks familiar, even when the actual address doesn’t line up underneath.

Conduct employee trainings

It is important to conduct training for the employees and explain to them all aspects of security controls and email security measures. When a new employee joins your company, you can conduct a training session for them. As cybercriminals target new joiners who don’t have a proper understanding of the workings and security practices the company follows, you should focus on conducting training as soon as the employee joins your organization.

Hire professionals for penetration testing

You may have spent hours building cybersecurity on your website, but it becomes useless if you don’t test it properly. You can hire professionals for penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in your system. If you are planning DIY for penetration testing, then you should know that tutorials or professional tools may not be enough. You need to hire white-hat hackers and cybersecurity specialists to use advanced security solutions to conduct penetration testing.

Select a secure web host

You should pay special attention to the hosting of your website. While selecting the hosting provider, you need to check the security solutions they offer. It is important to ask about data center security. Have a look at their reputation and choose the right web host for your website.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)

eCommerce cybersecurity involves credit card information, and protecting the users’ confidential information becomes important. PCI-DSS for eCommerce requires adhering to 12 security requirements to protect customer payment information. Non-compliance may result in higher transaction fees, massive fines, or loss of processing ability.

Role of AI and Machine Learning in Preventing BEC

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help to combat BEC. These technologies can enhance a company’s ability to detect and prevent BEC attacks. AI-powered email filtering systems can be used to detect phishing and BEC attempts in real-time. AI-based systems learn from past incidents of suspicious behavior and prevent attacks.

AI and ML help organizations analyze behavioral patterns of the employees, and they raise a red flag when an email deviates from the norm. These systems can spot the inconsistency and trigger an alert.

Wrap Up

Staying ahead isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about tightening what already exists and knowing where it breaks under pressure.

Attack methods keep shifting, but most still rely on the same gaps. Weak authentication, rushed employees, and email flows nobody questions until something goes wrong. Training helps when it reflects real scenarios. Not theory, but the kind of invoice swaps and impersonation attempts teams will actually see in their inbox.

Email authentication needs to be enforced, not just configured. SPF, DKIM, DMARC, all aligned and monitored, because partial setups still leave room for spoofing to slip through and land clean.

AI tools add visibility. They flag anomalies, catch patterns, reduce some noise, but they don’t replace basic controls, and they won’t save a team that ignores alerts after the tenth false positive. Most of this isn’t new. The difference is whether teams apply it consistently or assume the tooling will cover gaps that are still very much human.