North Gwinnett News

Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) is facing a significant cybersecurity threat, with an average of 2,300 Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks occurring each month. BEC attacks are cybercrimes where attackers use email fraud to target organizations for financial gain. These attacks often involve tricking employees into actions such as transferring funds or sharing sensitive information.

The attackers typically impersonate trusted figures within the organization, such as superintendents or business partners, to create urgency and legitimacy. Several types of BEC attacks have been identified targeting GCPS.

One common scam is the iTunes Gift Card Attack, where victims receive fraudulent emails from someone posing as their principal or supervisor. The email requests the purchase of iTunes gift cards for a fictitious event and asks for the 16-digit codes once purchased.

Another type is the Wire Transfer Attack. In this scenario, victims receive emails impersonating trusted business partners or vendors claiming an outstanding invoice and a change in banking details. Victims are instructed to wire funds to what they believe is a legitimate account but turns out to be controlled by cybercriminals.

The Payroll Redirection Attack involves attackers posing as legitimate employees requesting changes to direct deposit information via seemingly routine emails. Once updated by the payroll department, future deposits are rerouted to fraudulent accounts without employee knowledge until missing paychecks are noticed.

To protect against these scams, it is advised that individuals closely scrutinize emails requesting financial transactions or sensitive information and verify them through trusted communication methods like phone calls. Caution should be exercised with emails from district leadership using suspicious external domains like @gmail.com or @yahoo.com.

Key reminders include avoiding clicking on suspicious links or attachments, not sharing usernames or passwords, using the “Report Phish” button in Outlook for suspicious emails, and deleting suspicious messages from inboxes and deleted items folders.