business email compromise protection York: a practical guide for SMEs
If you run a business in York with between 10 and 200 people, you’ll know how quickly a single mistake can ripple through the office. An email that looks perfectly ordinary — a supplier invoice, a director’s request, a salary change — can be the start of a very expensive day. Business email compromise (BEC) isn’t glamorous, but it’s effective, and it targets the very things that matter to you: cashflow, reputation and the hours your team needs to do real work.
Why BEC matters for York businesses
BEC attacks are social and procedural more than they are technical. Criminals impersonate people you already trust, or they trick staff into changing payment details. For a mid-sized firm here in York — whether you’re in Castle, Heworth or near the Minster — the consequences are the same: lost funds, client anger and time spent untangling the mess. The smaller the finance or HR team, the bigger the impact per incident.
Think of it in plain business terms: one successful BEC can cost you weeks of management time, tens of thousands in recovery and, importantly, damage to credibility with suppliers and customers. You don’t need to be a national household name for this to hurt; local reputations matter, and word travels fast around the business community and through local networks.
Practical protections that reduce risk
You don’t need a full security overhaul to make a meaningful difference. Focus on measures that reduce the chance of human error and speed up detection. Here are sensible steps that fit the resource profile of a 10–200 person business.
1. Stop payments being the path of least resistance
Introduce clear, documented rules for changing bank details and approving large payments. Require a verbal check on a known number (not a number in the email) before making any supplier payee changes. It’s boring, but it’s effective — and staff will soon see it as normal rather than optional.
2. Make email identity checks routine
Encourage people to look for subtle signs: unexpected urgency, small typos in addresses, strange greetings. Train teams with examples relevant to the kind of emails you see — invoices, payroll queries, purchase orders — so the checks feel practical, not theoretical.
3. Use authentication and multifactor for key accounts
Technical fixes like email authentication and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for finance and executive accounts make it significantly harder for attackers to impersonate you. You don’t need to understand the protocols to benefit — just get them enabled for the accounts that matter.
4. Limit who can authorise payments
Split duties where possible so one person can’t both request and approve payments. In smaller teams this may feel awkward; do what you can and use compensating controls like mandatory second approvals for transactions above a threshold.
5. Keep a lightweight incident plan
Know who to call, what to freeze and what to tell staff and suppliers. A short checklist that fits on a page will save hours if something happens: who is the incident lead, who contacts the bank, and who drafts the initial internal message.
Real-world checks that don’t eat the week
Quick wins you can implement in a day or two: run a short staff awareness session, update your payment policy, enforce MFA on finance logins, and review high-risk email flows (like change-of-bank requests). These are the kinds of small investments that stop BEC attacks before they start and preserve the time you’d otherwise spend cleaning up.
If you want local IT help tailored to York businesses, take a look at our natural anchor for details about services in the area that focus on outcomes rather than tech for tech’s sake.
What to do if you suspect an attack
Quick action matters. If you think a BEC attack is under way:
- Pause payments and notify your bank immediately — faster notifications often limit loss.
- Change passwords and force MFA revalidation on suspected accounts.
- Collect and preserve the suspicious emails (don’t delete them) and note timelines.
- Inform senior leadership and follow your incident checklist.
These steps can be followed by an investigation to establish the entry point and whether data was exfiltrated. The priority in the first hours is containment — not blame.
Building a practical, affordable plan
For many businesses the right approach combines simple process changes, staff training and a modest technical baseline. You don’t need every possible control in place; you need the right controls for the business risks you actually face. Allocate budget to the highest-impact items: payment controls, MFA for high-value accounts, and a short, realistic incident response playbook.
We’ve seen firms in York spread the load by pairing seasoned staff with newly hired administrators, and by setting clear limits on who can approve different value bands. That kind of process thinking often pays for itself in reduced errors and fewer “urgent” panics.
FAQ
How common is business email compromise for small and medium businesses?
It’s common enough to be a genuine risk but not inevitable. Criminals target businesses where the payoff is clear and controls are weak. If you haven’t thought about payment verification or MFA, you’re more exposed than you think.
Can technical tools stop BEC entirely?
No single tool is a silver bullet. Technical measures reduce the chance of impersonation or account takeover, but the human element — policies, checks, staff awareness — is essential. Combine both for the best outcome.
How quickly should we escalate a suspected BEC?
Immediately. Treat any suspicious payment or account change as urgent. Early escalation to your bank and your internal incident lead gives you the best chance of limiting loss.
Do we need specialist help, or can we handle this internally?
Many controls can be implemented internally if you have a clear plan and someone to drive it. But external help is useful for configuring email systems, running targeted staff sessions, and testing your incident response without taking time from your day-to-day operation.
Final thoughts and a modest call to action
Business email compromise is one of those risks where small, practical changes protect the things that keep your business running: cash, time and reputation. If you take a few straightforward steps now — tighten payment rules, enable MFA for critical accounts and agree a short incident checklist — you’ll save yourself hours of disruption and potential cost down the line.
If you’d like help focusing efforts where they pay off fastest, aim for outcomes: fewer interrupted days, lower financial exposure and a calmer leadership team. That’s the point of sensible protection — keep the business moving with less worry.
