Business Email Compromise: What to Do When Your Email Is Hacked

Business email compromise (BEC) is one of the most financially devastating cybercrimes — costing businesses billions annually. If your email account has been hacked, criminals can impersonate you to redirect wire transfers, deceive customers and vendors, access sensitive data, and spread malware. xS LLC (SpaceTown IT) helps Houston businesses respond to hacked email accounts and implement the defenses to prevent it from happening again.

Signs Your Business Email Has Been Compromised

• Contacts report receiving strange emails or requests from your address that you didn’t send
• Emails are disappearing from your inbox or being auto-forwarded to an unknown address
• You can’t log into your email account (password changed by attacker)
• New mail rules or filters were created that you didn’t set up
• Microsoft 365 or Google alerts about suspicious sign-ins from unusual locations
• Employees or vendors received requests to change payment information or wire funds

Immediate Response Steps

If you suspect email compromise: (1) Change your password immediately from a clean device. (2) Enable multi-factor authentication if not already on. (3) Review and remove any unauthorized forwarding rules or filters. (4) Alert contacts who may have received fraudulent emails. (5) Contact xS LLC — our team will conduct a full investigation of what the attacker accessed and did.

Preventing Business Email Compromise

The most effective BEC prevention measures are multi-factor authentication (stops most account takeovers), email authentication records (DMARC, DKIM, SPF — prevents spoofing of your domain), and employee training (recognizing impersonation attempts and verifying payment change requests by phone). Our cybersecurity services and Microsoft 365 security hardening implement all of these.

Get Help Now

If your email has been hacked, contact xS LLC immediately. For prevention, schedule a free email security assessment and we’ll close the gaps that attackers exploit.