I was recently helping a client in Tokyo respond to a serious and sophisticated cyber breach where hackers executed a transfer of nearly US$1M out of the client’s Hong Kong bank account. In this instance, the hackers had hacked into the CEO’s cloud-based corporate e-mail account and had determined a way to create a transaction that his intermediary company believed to be genuine. The hackers sat on top of the e-mail to intercept any queries and assure colleagues that this was an authorized transfer. The transaction was made on a Friday, in the hopes that it would not be noticed until the following week. Indeed, our client only realized that the transaction had happened on the following Monday, when he received by mail hard copies of the transfer documents from his intermediaries.

In these types of situations, it is essential to act quickly and to focus on the efforts most likely to bear fruit. But what to do when every second that passes makes it more likely that the funds have been transferred to other accounts in other jurisdictions?

Here are some critical things to consider, with many of these actions needing to occur concurrently:Continue Reading Executive Hacks and What To Do