His story is so compelling that Ryan Phillippe starred as him in a movie.
Eric O’Neill is a former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative. In 2001 he helped capture Robert Hanssen, an infamous spy passing United States intelligence to the Soviet Union and Russian Federation, the worst breach of that type in US history. Since then, he has appeared on both CNN and Fox as a national cybersecurity expert and has worked one-on-one with businesses to help manage their online security.
This capture led to Eric’s story being developed into a movie, Breach, in 2007 and writing his memoir, Gray Day. Now a highly trained attorney and investigator, he often keynotes on cyber threats.
We will both present live on Thursday, December 15 for Small Business Tech Day. We are hosting this free event for Small Business leaders and owners to discover the best technology and practices to increase their profitability and protect them from online threats.
Eric will outline ways for your practice to be proactive rather than reactive. There are technologies and people you can implement right now to ensure you stay protected.
We’ll be streaming live from Las Vegas and also be joined by Shark Tank celebrity Kevin O’Leary and bestselling business author Mike Michalowicz.
Reserve your spot at techdaynv.com to get free access to the event and be reminded when we are LIVE!
Having been a small business columnist at The Wall Street Journal and business makeover consultant for MSNBC, Mike Michalowicz knows a thing or two about scaling a business. He has since founded and sold two multimillion-dollar companies.
Mike sold his first company to a private equity firm and his second to a Fortune 500 company. At age 26, he was awarded the New Jersey Small Business Association’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Since then, he has created and written the book Profit First, which helps businesses attain early and sustained profitability to scale and grow faster. He followed those books with Clockwork and Fix This Next. His latest, Get Different, is all about can’t-ignore business marketing.
He aims to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty and help business owners achieve their long-term personal and professional goals.
Orbis Solutions is honored to be joined by Mike on Thursday, December 15, as we both present for Small Business Tech Day. This is a free event for small business leaders and owners to discover the best technology and practices to increase their profitability and protect them from online threats.
Mike’s going to share how, given the current economy, small businesses can have their best growth ever and make more money.
We’ll be streaming live from Las Vegas and also be joined by former FBI counter-terrorism and counterintelligence operative Eric O’Neill and Shark Tank celebrity Kevin O’Leary.
Please reserve your spot at https://www.techdaynv.com to get free access to the event and be reminded when we are LIVE!
Orbis Solutions is proud to announce that MSSP Alert, published by After Nines Inc., has named us to the Top 250 MSSPs list for 2022, ranking #237. We are delighted to be one of the world’s top Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs).
The rankings are based on MSSP Alert’s 2022 readership survey combined with the digital media site’s global editorial coverage of managed security services providers. The seventh-annual list and research report tracks the managed security service market’s ongoing growth and evolution.
Do you know why cybersecurity expertise is so important?
The fact is that, even if you deployed all the necessary cybersecurity technologies, invested in all the necessary tools and solutions, and did everything you could to protect your business, you’d still be missing one thing—cybersecurity expertise.
Does your staff have the skills and experience needed to keep you protected?
Cybersecurity expertise is in high demand these days. As cybercrime continues to grow, and as businesses become more and more digital in their operations, cybersecurity becomes a much more critical priority. However, there’s only so much cybersecurity talent available to hire.
When you’re not sure if you have the skills or knowledge to get the job done, what can you do? Consult with cybersecurity professionals.
The question you need to ask yourself is whether you can confidently manage cybersecurity on your own.
The short answer is “maybe, but probably not”. Especially for members of highly regulated industries like healthcare and financial services.
In theory, it's entirely possible that, if you've invested in the right technologies, and have the right skill set, you could handle cybersecurity for your business all on your own. You would find your vulnerabilities, manage your policies, monitor your alerts, and everything else that comes with operating a secure business IT environment.
When it comes to protecting against the ongoing, evolving cybersecurity threats in play today, managing cybersecurity is, understandably, a tall order. For you to effectively fill the role of an IT security company, you would need…
Expertise
The knowledge of how to select, configure, optimize and maintain increasingly complex IT security technologies. Do you have that kind of know-how?
Resources
You’d also need the time to both find vulnerabilities on an ongoing basis and respond to events as they occur. If you can't afford to make cybersecurity your full-time job, then do you really think you can stay on top of it?
For all these reasons, it’s recommended that business owners simply outsource their cybersecurity for complete management by an IT company they can rely on—these companies are also known as MSSPs, which means they offer cybersecurity expertise.
In fact, whereas nearly a quarter of businesses in the Enterprise Communications Survey have already moved to a managed security model, nearly 45% have plans to do so within the next year.
You may be thinking you already know the right IT company for your organization. But before you sign on the dotted line, you need to be sure they’re going to deliver everything you need.
While it’s certainly frustrating to have to do some homework before you sign an agreement, it’s vital that you make sure all your needs will be addressed before you make it official.
Even though you may have a contract that states and governs the managed services, your contract may still lack significant details—it's better to check now and consider moving on, instead of finding out you're not covered after you've locked into an agreement.
That said, even if you've already entered into a contract with an IT company, that doesn't mean it's too late to ask them a few questions.
The Orbis Solutions team believes the only way to effectively develop cybersecurity is through a fully managed approach that builds a culture of best practices, in combination with a range of carefully chosen technologies.
We can provide managed security solutions that address your company’s specific needs, and we can do so in a cost-effective manner. Book a meeting with our globally ranked cybersecurity team today.
Key Takeaways
No one is immune to invoice fraud. Criminals are becoming sophisticated, so some scams may not be obvious, even for seasoned professionals. Many businesses in Las Vegas today are concerned about invoice fraud's prevalence and the surprisingly convincing manner in which it is carried out. It is becoming a danger that cannot be ignored, even when you think that the security of your accounts payable process is watertight.
Although the advancement of information technology and computer science provides businesses with more secure and efficient solutions to manage fraud, some companies are yet to switch from the traditional manual payment processes entirely, and fraudsters are taking advantage of this. Additionally, even with businesses aware of fraud and scams that may affect them, many are yet to take any preventive action, which explains why invoice fraud still has ground.
Invoice fraud happens when a scammer or hacker poses as a vendor by sending you a fake invoice or any other payment request, such as changing payment details, hoping your business will comply and pay. Unlike email scams and other attacks, invoice frauds are highly targeted. Typically, the fake invoice is generated with knowledge about your business relationship with suppliers.
The fraudsters don't mind the work and precision that goes into planning the fraud because, ultimately, criminals can make a lot of money if successful. For example, we recently learned that tech giants Google and Facebook were scammed out of $123million. This shows how complex this type of fraud is and how it challenges all organizations regardless of the size and security measures.
There are varying levels of sophistication applied in perpetrating invoice fraud. However, the ultimate goal is to get a phony invoice past the accounts payable team.
Invoice frauds are often well-executed and hard to detect. A third party will submit a fake invoice to your company, and you may think you are genuinely paying for goods or services received while sending funds to a scammer or hacker. Although most scammers usually play a game of chance with their luck, they typically invest significant time learning about your business before making you a victim. A study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners revealed that fraud plots could take an average of 16 months from the initial research to the time it is carried out. Their research mainly focuses on identifying your regular suppliers and their typical invoicing patterns so that the fake invoice looks as genuine as possible.
Knowing some common types of invoice fraud will give you a better idea of how to prevent them.
Prices of the invoices are inflated to get you to pay more than you are supposed to. Usually, the amount is not significantly increased to avoid raising suspicion. The invoice could be from a genuine vendor wanting to rip you off or a scammer who has not supplied your business with any goods or services.
This is the most common type of invoice fraud. They appear to be charging for legitimate goods or services, but they delivered nothing. The scammers hope that no one will question the invoice and ultimately get away with reaping where they did not sow.
This involves both internal and external parties to the business. You get more than one invoice for a service or goods.
You are at an increased risk of falling prey to an accounting scam when there are some weaknesses in your accounts payable processes. Some of the issues that make your business more vulnerable include:
To protect your business from invoice fraud, here are a few things you can do:
Invoice fraud can be costly for your business, so it makes sense to invest in prevention and protection measures instead. Automating the accounts payable process can cover some loopholes that fraudsters take advantage of to commit invoice fraud. Accounts payable automation takes over verifying invoice information and ensuring that the services or goods being paid for are received. In addition, it allows the accounting team operates more efficiently by saving time and reducing errors.
This sounds like the bare minimum every account payable team should be doing. However, many businesses still rely on just one person to authorize and verify everything, increasing the chances of an error. Having more eyes check an invoice and payment will increase the chances of spotting any suspicious activity before it is too late.
The only way to determine if something is odd with your accounts is by tracking and monitoring all invoice activity. Tracking lets you know the number of invoices you receive, how much you pay, and whom. Therefore, if something is not adding up, you can always spot it in good time and make the necessary changes.
You can prevent invoice fraud by selecting the vendors you bring into your business. Make sure to do several steps of due diligence checks to ensure that the vendor is legitimate. First, they provide essential documents like proof of incorporation, TAX/VAT number, and contact and payment information. Then, confirm with the vendor before authorizing payment in case of any changes, such as new payment details. Alternatively, you can use automated tools to flag any payments or invoices that seem off or new in your system.
Orbis Solutions Inc. can help secure your business against invoice fraud by improving your email security measures. Emails, the most common mode of communication for business, can be an avenue for phishing and other cybercrimes supporting invoice fraud. Contact us today to find out more about how we can cushion your systems so that all your business communication and information stay secure.
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