Fi911, the sister company of Chargebacks911, has launched a new micro-mentorship program to empower female leadership across the thriving fintech and payments arena. LIFT: Elevating Women in Fintech aims to champion and enable more women to seize opportunities across the sector.

The completely free program facilitates one-on-one, on-demand meetings with industry leaders and entrepreneurs, including Andrea Dunlop, Managing Director of the Payment Division, The Access Group, Marion King, Director of Payments, NatWest and Sondra Fienberg, Global Workload Lead-Fraud, Microsoft, allowing mentees to discuss challenges and pressure points.

Leading the program, Fi911 Co-Founder and COO Monica Eaton-Cardone said, “While there are many factors in achieving greater inclusion for women in fintech, it’s imperative that women at the top hold the door open for others to follow. Mentorship for aspiring leaders can improve their confidence, help them build a strong network and encourage self-advocacy, all of which are key tools for advancement.”

Eaton-Cardone continues, “We often hear about the benefits of mentorship, but many find it unattainable. Especially in an industry where there is such gender disparity – women currently only make up 7% of fintech startup founders – it can be difficult to find female mentors. On the other hand, influential women are often stretched to take on as many mentorships as they would like. That’s why we chose this format for LIFT.”

Women seeking mentors are asked to identify the challenge they are facing – such as navigating a difficult conversation or transitioning into a new role – and can choose a preferred mentor to speak to. After submitting a request, a virtual meeting is arranged, and mentors use the discussion to understand their unique situation and ensure they walk away with specific, actionable advice.

Applications are now open for leaders interested in joining the program as a mentor. The founding mentors represent a group of women in various positions of influence across finance and technology industries, and include:

• Andrea Dunlop, Managing Director of the Payment Division, The Access Group
• Angela Yore, Co-Founder & Managing Director, SkyParlour
• Becky Clements, Director of Payments, UK Finance
• Denise Gee, Co-Founder & MD, findexable
• Marion King, Director of Payments, NatWest
• Monica Eaton-Cardone, Co-Founder & COO, Chargebacks911 & Fi911
• Sondra Fienberg, Global Workload Lead-Fraud, Microsoft
• Tracy Cray, Head of Card Scheme Compliance, Chargebacks911 & Fi911

Between finding the appropriate mentor-mentee fit, to maintaining the relationship over time, traditional mentoring is a significant commitment on both sides. Micro-mentoring allows for greater flexibility and a broader reach by pairing mentees with the right professionals to coach them through specific pressure points as they arise.

In addition, Fi911 and sister company Chargebacks911 recently announced a partnership with findexable to build the Fintech Diversity Radar, the world’s first global platform that measures the role women play in fintech, creating transparency and encouraging progress within the industry. Eaton-Cardone currently serves on the initiative’s advisory board alongside top fintech and diversity experts.

For more information about LIFT: Elevating Women in Fintech, visit: https://fi911.com/lift-mentorship/?utm_campaign=Press&utm_source=skyparlour

B2Broker, a leading technology and liquidity provider for the forex and crypto industries, chooses Sumsub to help 450 businesses across 40+ countries stay compliant by adjusting verification routines to international requirements—all in a few clicks.

B2Broker offers a full range of Forex, CFD, and cryptocurrency solutions for institutional customers worldwide. Since B2Broker’s customers onboard users in many different jurisdictions, it can be quite difficult and time-consuming to keep up with all the changing and tightening regulations around crypto. It can also be exhausting to shop around for a suitable provider. That's why B2Broker opted for Sumsub's AI-powered solution.

Sumsub’s solution will assure that B2Broker’s customers comply with international regulatory demands and avoid hefty fines. Through this partnership, SumSub and B2Broker aim to provide businesses with secure and easily-customizable KYC and video verification checks that take around 3 minutes to complete. Sumsub will also be providing crypto transaction monitoring, ensuring that the sources of commercial crypto transactions are legitimate and free of money laundering.

The cryptocurrency market has received a lot of attention since it’s value topped $2 trillion this year, driving even more new investors to the industry across the world. This has led to stricter regulatory regimes that, if violated, could cost businesses millions of dollars or their ability to operate on the market.

“With ever-increasing regulations, and as an industry-leading provider of crypto-related services, we take stringent steps to ensure our clients’ onboarding process fulfills all their obligations. Sumsub’s solution will ensure that our clients are able to comply with international regulatory demands and avoid the possibility of substantial fines.”—Arthur Azizov, Founder and CEO of B2Broker.

“The crypto industry has been generating a lot of interest recently. This means that crypto platforms need to be increasingly careful about who they onboard and how. We are excited to be partnered with B2Broker, helping hundreds of businesses tackle security and regulatory compliance through time-saving automation”,—Jacob Sever, Co-founder of Sumsub.

• A new report from Checkout.com shows the impact the pandemic has had on online retailers, as many predict a shift to eCommerce is here to stay
• 97% of CEOs say business model innovation will be crucial to remain relevant and competitive as high streets reopen
• A new wave of digital payments is underway, with growing consumer demand for digital wallets, QR codes, and crypto
• Study based on views of 10,000 European consumers and 550 senior execs at Europe’s top eCommerce retailers

New research released today by Checkout.com is a ‘wake-up call’ for online retailers, as the majority predict the shift towards online shopping, accelerated by the pandemic, is here to stay.

The study reveals that across Europe, three-quarters (74%) of consumers have no intention to significantly reduce their online shopping now that they can revisit the high street. Ecommerce retail leaders agree as three-quarters (75%) believe the future of shopping is solely online.

The data comes from a new report, The New State Of Retail, from leading cloud-based global payment solutions provider Checkout.com, which gathered the views of 10,000 European consumers and 550 senior executives at Europe’s top eCommerce retail organisations.

Progressive eCommerce leaders take advantage

In 2020, lockdowns across the world accelerated the shift towards online retail. Merchants rushed to pivot online, investing in new infrastructure and logistics to meet spikes in consumer demand. The study shows that, as the shift towards online retail continues, eCommerce leaders recognise the importance of staying agile: 97% say that to remain relevant, resilient and profitable, they will need to evolve their business models within the next 18 months.

Merchants are taking action to ensure they keep pace with the changing retail landscape. One-quarter (25%) say they are creating new local fulfilment centres to meet demand, whilst half (50%) have responded to increased cross-border demand since the start of the crisis by expanding the range of payment methods they offer. Yet, 60% of eCommerce merchants feel they still don’t have the payment insights needed to drive better performance.

The new wave of consumer demands for digital payments

Online shopping is now ubiquitous across European households. Consumers are increasingly seeking new ways of paying online and using financial services to empower themselves, whether this is through new solutions for credit, budgeting, or security. The report reveals that the growing demand for new and emerging digital payments is set to soar: three in 10 (31%) Brits plan to purchase with buy now and pay later in the next 12 months. 80% of European consumers intend to use a digital wallet such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal in the next 12 months and 40% plan to do so regularly.

Moshe Winegarten, Senior Vice President at Checkout.com, said: “As lockdowns ease, analysts have predicted that eCommerce revenues are set to drop as consumers head back to the high street. But our research reveals that’s not the case. eCommerce will continue to accelerate, testing online retailers along the way. But the savviest of retailers will capitalise on this opportunity, riding the wave of accelerated eCommerce adoption in Europe and willingness to try emerging payment methods.”

“The past 18 months have demonstrated the need for businesses to remain agile, adapting business models, implementing new payment methods and meeting new regulatory requirements. Checkout.com has been developed with performance and speed in mind. Our modular payments platform is ideal for retail merchants looking to integrate better payment solutions seamlessly.”

The New State Of Retail report explores numerous additional topics, including the growing surge in cross-border shopping, the uptick in subscription models, and the social commerce boom, an exciting way for merchants to tap into new pools and potential customers and increase revenues.

The report can be downloaded here: www.checkout.com/connected-payments/the-new-state-of-retail

TruNarrative are proud to announce their latest partnership with the UK’s first ethical digital banking platform, MoneeMint to provide their market leading customer onboarding and transaction monitoring solution. 

MoneeMint is a London based FinTech with a focus on providing socially responsible finance to millennials in the UK and Europe.

Aiming to be Europe’s first ethical digital bank, MoneeMint will provide their customers with transparent, fair mobile banking, through a digital-first experience.

Initially delivering range of prepaid products and services, MoneeMint’s relationship with Railsbank allows them to issue pre-paid Mastercard, providing a digital pre-paid account, international money transfer services and many more products that MoneeMint will launch in the future.

The TruNarrative platform will enable MoneeMint to deliver a smooth and compliant onboarding and transactional risk strategy.

Multiple challenger banks, FinTechs and payment services providers trust TruNarrative technology to quickly & compliantly bring their services to market, deliver customer onboarding and prevent financial crime.

With the goal of delivering a market leading digital experience for their customers, MoneeMint went to market for a solution that allowed them to seamlessly onboard, monitor and transact with their customers.

TruNarrative will deliver MoneeMint access to a full suite of customer onboarding and verification technology, including automated; identity verification, fraud prevention and ongoing risk monitoring.

Within the TruNarrative platform’s no-code interface, MoneeMint will be able to adapt its onboarding and transactional risk monitoring strategies to quickly react to market, regulatory & fraud trend changes, mitigating risk and streamlining its customer’s experience.

TruNarrative will also provide MoneeMint with customer behaviour and transactional monitoring, delivering visibility over every transaction & interaction; giving MoneeMint the ability to efficiently make customer acquisition and business risk decisions.

Through the TruNarrative platform, MoneeMint will gain access to a full case management system for manual review and referrals. Providing a single view of each customer whilst facilitating  customer acquisition and relieving pressure on referral management teams.

“It is fantastic to work with another ethical finance provider. Our partnership with MoneeMint demonstrates TruNarratives commitment to helping organisations of all sizes protect their business and their customers from financial crime, whilst remaining compliant and delivering a world class customer experience.” John Lord, CEO of TruNarrative “We are looking forward to helping them continue to grow and become one of the UK’s most innovative banks.”

“I am delighted to be working with industry leaders TruNarrative to provide us with a comprehensive transaction monitoring and screening service to enable us to combat fraud and ensure that our customers money is kept safe.” Hassan Waqar, CEO of MoneeMint “We look forward working with TruNarrative as we launch and grow MoneeMint to be the world’s greatest bank.”

SmartStream Technologies, the financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM^®) solutions provider, today announces KeyBank N.A. goes live with its TLM Collateral Management (formerly Algorithmics/IBM Collateral) OnDemand solution - offering coverage for cleared and non-cleared, over the-counter (OTC) derivatives, repo and securities lending margining.

KeyBank needed to streamline its back-office workflow with a cloud offering that would enhance efficiencies within their collateral management operations - this included all data capture, validation, calculation and processing. In addition, the use of APIs links the application to various other reporting solutions and downstream systems. A powerful user interface provides clear and logical paths for the user, and a management dashboard will help with trend analysis and decision-making.

Paula Janofsky, Swap Operations Director, KeyBank, states: “Moving to the cloud enabled us to further improve and automate our operational and credit risk strategies, and reduce our internal infrastructure and support costs”.

Jason Ang, Program Manager, TLM Collateral Management, SmartStream, states: “We are delighted to have gone live with KeyBank. The bank will benefit from SmartStream’s industry leading collateral management solution ensuring that all operational efficiencies are met, whilst keeping an eye on costs”.

TLM Collateral Management can be installed on-premise or accessed via the cloud. The latter deployment option removes the need for firms to buy and install their own hardware, shortening implementation times and minimising overheads. SmartStream’s Collateral Management OnDemand solution provides physical segregation of client data to ensure that client information is never commingled.

Nukkleus, Inc. (NUKK), a leading software and technology solutions firm, announced the recent acquisition of Match Financial Limited. The acquisition was completed on 28 May, 2021. Match Financial is a financial services firm that wholly owns Digital RFQ Limited, an FCA registered EMD agent enabling frictionless and efficient conversion of FIAT to crypto through multiple banking facilities allowing for global same day settlement.

Match Financial will be absorbed into Nukkleus as the company looks to scale its operations and increase its service offerings in direct response to client demand. Through the acquisition, Nukkleus will be able to offer a full-service digital asset platform with unique access to deep liquidity and a comprehensive suite of crypto products and services.

Nukkleus and Match Financial are primarily focussed on advanced multi-asset trading technology, institutional digital asset execution, crypto-backed product investment management and global payment services.

With the belief that multi-asset investment strategies must include digital assets, Emil Assentato, CEO of Nukkleus said: “As digital assets continue to be widely adopted, we believe that the best guarantee of acceptance and longevity will be transparency, governance and oversight. This is what Match Financial provides Nukkleus, underpinned by performance, security, integrity and the right partnerships”.

Jamie Khurshid, the Founder and Managing Director of Match Financial, spoke on the vision to de-risk investing through regulated products and regulated firms: “Digital Assets are especially exciting as they are a technology that has the opportunity to be massively beneficial in everyday lives. As an industry, we are at the early stage of fully appreciating the impact and benefits, but we have run into a number of fairly predictable issues that are preventing mainstream adoption. In creating Match Financial, we have specifically gone out to address these issues in a structured way to enable crypto to become a legitimate part of an investment portfolio for the long term.”

Nukkleus and Match Financial share a vision of healthy, customizable approaches to digital asset investment.

Providing stability and legitimacy to volatile assets

Over the last year, cryptocurrencies have seen tremendous growth. As they enter a new period of price discovery, investors are presented with huge opportunities to enter the crypto market at a crucial time. However, as with all opportunity, comes risk and managing a risk-reward investment strategy is a delicate balance.

This is the challenge that led to the addition of Match Financial’s capabilities into the Nukkleus suite. Now Nukkleus can combine its best-in-class technology with Match Financial’s superior institutional crypto advisory, over-the-counter brokerage, and exchange execution services. Nukkleus will be able to extend its full service offering and compete effectively in the multi-asset space. Investors seeking customized crypto investment approaches now have a one-stop-shop that matches their understanding of technology, the markets and available investment products with their associated risk.

If the last year and a half have shown us anything, it’s that having a multi-asset approach to investing, including cryptocurrencies, is key for both investors and brokers. This is something Match Financial and Nukkleus understand as well as the unique challenges in the cryptocurrency investment space.

Like any emerging market, cryptocurrency is largely unregulated and that increases the level of risk for investors. While more regulation has been making its way into the crypto space, there’s still a long way to go. For example, more than 800,000 leveraged Bitcoin accounts were liquidated in May 2021 as a result of price volatility – and markets still haven’t recovered.

Cryptocurrency investments have unique requirements and challenges. Along with regulatory and volatility-related concerns, secure cryptocurrency custody remains an infrastructural and insurance challenge, particularly for high-volume traders and trading platforms. Additionally, crypto market participants are battling against fraud and other kinds of financial crimes, including money laundering. This means crypto and digital assets are not suitable for everyone. However, for those who understand the asset class and the risks, Match Financial and Nukkleus offer what is believed to be the safest possible mechanism to enter the market and gain exposure to the performance of crypto assets.

This is where Nukkleus can deliver real value to investors. With the acquisition of Match Financial, investors aware of the risks of buying and holding the physical asset, can safely access cryptocurrencies through their network of regulated business partners and liquidity providers. Investors not previously comfortable with the risks in cryptocurrency technology or the available cryptocurrency investment products, will now be able to take advantage of the vast opportunities presented by digital currencies. With a strong background in traditional financial markets and investment banking, the Match Financial team consists of experts in regulation and consumer protection for institutional businesses, as well as for professional and accredited investors.

Nukkleus, through Match Financial will also provide unique access to the first fully-regulated and cleared crypto instruments on a fully-regulated market.  Access to these products is only possible through Match’s wholly-owned subsidiary and crypto-backed financial product investment manager, Digital RFQ Limited, a leading institutional cryptocurrency to FIAT exchange service, token advisory and OTC brokerage registered with the UK FCA as an EMD Agent with full banking level KYC, KYB and AML.

About Nukkleus, Inc.

Nukkleus, Inc. (OTC Pink: NUKK) combines its world class technology with institutional digital asset advisory and exchange execution services, giving Nukkleus the full-service offerings needed to compete effectively in the multi asset world. 

Nukkleus is a digital financial services company with a suite of financial technology to provide institutional counterparts with unique access to global liquidity and a comprehensive suite of products and services ranging from advanced trading and technology to trusted token advisory services.

Our technology delivers counterparts institutional-grade access to traditional and digital asset markets globally along with a fully regulated EMD agent status for handling professional and accredited client funds and conducting cryptocurrency conversion into FIAT currencies. 

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements".  Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission located at their website (http://www.sec.gov).  In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, governmental and public policy changes, Nukkleus’ ability to raise capital on acceptable terms, if at all, Nukkleus’ successful development of its products and the integration into its existing products and the commercial acceptance of the Nukkleus products.  The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Nukkleus’ views as of the date of this press release and these views could change.  However, while Nukkleus may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Nukkleus specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.  These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Nukkleus’ views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.

In FY20 and into H121, 4iG has continued to execute at pace, with a series of acquisitions that will transform the group once the acquisition of DIGI Group, a leading telecoms services provider, closes in Q321. 4iG's strategy is focused on three pillars: IT services; telecoms & infrastructure; and space & defence. The group continues to scale in Hungary, with a target to become the market leader, but we also expect 4iG to develop a more diversified regional footprint in FY21 and FY22. On top of 39% revenue growth in FY20, we estimate 44% revenue growth in FY21, even before considering the contribution from DIGI Group (FY20 revenues HUF70bn, EBITDA HUF19bn). 4iG is fast growing, with a likely step-up in margins post DIGI Group, and offers an attractive dividend yield, yet trades on an FY21e P/E of 10.5x, a 40%+ discount to its peer group.

At an FY21 P/E of 10.5x and EV/EBITDA of 6.1x, 4iG's valuation neither reflects the transformation the business has already achieved nor its future prospects as management executes on its plan for market leadership in Hungary. Even pre-DIGI Group, the stock remains at a substantial discount to regional peers, as well as a material discount to our NPV estimate of HUF1,237 per share (WACC of 8.2%). 

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About Edison: Edison is a leading research and investor relations consultancy, connecting listed companies to the widest pool of global investors. By focusing on the volume and quality of investors reached - across institutions, family offices, wealth managers and retail investors - Edison can create and gauge intent to purchase, even in the darkest pools of capital, and then make introductions via non-deal roadshows, events or virtual meetings.

Having been the first in-market 17 years ago, Edison now has more than 100 analysts covering every economic sector. Headquartered in London, Edison also has offices in New York, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv and a presence in Athens, Johannesburg and Sydney.

Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Edison is not an adviser or broker-dealer and does not provide investment advice. Edison's reports are not solicitations to buy or sell any securities.

• Cyber security pioneer SenseOn launches new campaign showcasing they are on a mission to create a safer world by putting people at the heart of cyber security.
• SenseOn’s vision is a safer world for everyone to work and play in, through democratised, affordable and accessible technology – as simple and effective as switching on and off.
• New campaign comes after firm named Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum alongside 100 of the most promising tech companies in the world.
• SenseOn is transforming the global cyber security market, having developed an industry-first, cloud-native security architecture, instantly deployable via a single piece of software.

SenseOn, the UK-based cyber security company, has announced the launch of a campaign, showcasing its mission to fix cyber security. This comes amid news that the firm was selected as one of the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers, a select group of early to growth-stage companies from around the world using new technologies and innovation that is poised to have a significant impact on business and society.

SenseOn was founded in 2017 by David Atkinson, the first cyber specialist in the United Kingdom Special Forces. SenseOn’s unique ‘AI Triangulation’ technology emulates how a human security analyst thinks and acts to automate the process of threat detection, investigation and response. Capable of looking at the behaviours of users and devices from multiple perspectives, pausing for thought and learning from experience, SenseOn provides accurate and context-rich alerts. These automated capabilities free security teams from the burden of exhaustive analysis, alert fatigue and false positives.

The idea for SenseOn was conceived after Atkinson discovered reoccurring problems within the security operations industry that could be attributed to the multiple single point solutions in traditional cybersecurity. Understanding the daily pressures currently facing CISOs, Security Analysts and IT Managers alike, Atkinson set out to establish a centralised, cohesive platform that provides complete visibility and insights informed by data sources working natively to accurately detect and autonomously investigate cyber threats. This enables IT and security teams to minimise noise and focus on genuine threats.

Commenting on the announcement, Atkinson said: “I have seen first-hand the huge cybersecurity issues facing organisations of all sizes and all industries, public or private sector. The range of threats today are so sophisticated and becoming more so literally by the day, which makes keeping on top of them a seemingly losing battle for many. This is the fundamental challenge SenseOn was created to address and I am delighted to have been recognised by the World Economic Forum in our endeavour to tackle what is one of the most systemic risks facing the world today.”

SenseOn currently works across all industries and sectors, including financial services, healthcare and public sector, including the UK Government. The financial services industry is faced by unrelenting cyber attack attempts due to the nature of high value data held, with SenseOn’s threat detection and response platform actively flagging suspicious behaviour and instantaneously isolating serious threats. Similarly, security managers operating in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, responsible for the protection of lucrative and confidential patient data, can deploy SenseOn to safeguard the integrity of this sensitive information whilst maintaining essential access for healthcare institutions.

The SenseOn team is working to address what they see as a historic “flawed approach to cyber defence”, seen first-hand working inside some of the world’s biggest and most high-profile institutions. Alongside CEO Atkinson, the firm’s CTO, James Mistry, spent eight years developing cutting-edge cyber defence platforms for major corporate and government organisations. The firm’s data science function is led by Chief Data Scientist Dr Neil Caithness, who has an extensive academic background as a research leader in the Department of Engineering at the University of Oxford.

Major investors in the four year-old business include research-led venture capital firm MMC Ventures, global technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners, early-stage intelligent enterprise venture capital firm Crane Venture Partners, leading cyber security accelerator CyLon, and Winton’s venture arm, Winton Ventures.

SenseOn expects to grow its team to 60 employees by the end of this year, with more than 30 customers spanning the UK, US and EU, within its first eighteen months of trading and is on a mission to fix cyber security by reaching £100m in serviced clients by 2027.

Phishing, the practice of impersonating trusted people or representatives of trusted entities in an effort to fraudulently obtain valuable information (e.g. credit card details), has caused problems since the inception of the internet. Even the most tech-savvy individual can be fooled if they let their guard down. Compounding the problem, phishers keep tweaking their methods.

We’re now in 2021, and it’s a good time to look at how phishing scams have changed over the years: one 2020 survey found that 53% of respondents had noticed more phishing attempts since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and that trend has continued. What do people need to do to stay safe today? What threats do they need to recognise? Let’s run through some revisions and set out some tips for staying ahead of the phishers.

They’re focusing on home deliveries due to lockdowns

Unable to attend large social gatherings, go to their regular offices, or do much brick-and-mortar shopping (with countless retail stores closed), people have been spending heavily online. Older people who wouldn’t otherwise have tried ecommerce have become accustomed to it — and this is good in many ways, but it also presents opportunities for fraudsters.

Knowing that shoppers will be receiving plenty of confirmation emails, phishers can do things like pose as couriers and request fees to cover import costs that seem plausible. So plausible, in fact, that it can be hard to spot the fakes. In the end, it comes down to investigation (tools like the email lookup service at WhatIsMyIPAddress.com can expose email origins) and requesting confirmation (a quick live-chat conversation with a retailer can clarify the legitimacy of an email).

What you need to do: read ecommerce emails very carefully before clicking any links.

They’re exploiting interest in COVID-19 vaccination

For obvious reasons, people are extremely eager to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations as swiftly as possible, but inconsistent rollouts and confusing updates lead them to simply hope they’ll be notified when they can proceed. Due to this, when they receive messages stating they can enter their details to find out when they can be vaccinated, or even pay to move up the queue, they can be so eager to continue that they don’t question them.

It doesn’t help that most people don’t know which regional or national medical bodies are responsible for handling vaccinations in their areas (aside from huge bodies like the NHS). If they did have that information, they’d be more likely to spot messaging inconsistencies. This might seem like a fixed-term tactic destined to become useless once all adults have been vaccinated, but the likely need for boosters will ensure that it sticks around for quite some time.

What you need to do: check the details of your medical body so you can spot phishing.

They’re targeting remote-working business communications

Email has always been used heavily for business purposes, but its importance has risen significantly during the pandemic era. Companies trying to keep going while working remotely have come to rely on broad digital communications — and those communications can be compromised by enterprising fraudsters.

If someone can figure out the hierarchy of a business (often easily done), they can pose as someone’s boss through spoofing their email address (Barracuda’s explanation) and attempt to rush them into taking some kind of action (like authorising a payment, for instance) without checking. This may not be effective very often, but when it is effective it can prove incredibly lucrative (and dangerous for the company, of course).

What you need to do: use a closed comms system (instead of email) for business discussions.

Wrapping up, phishing schemes have changed in 2021 to take advantage of new norms in how we live, work, and look for news. Staying ahead of them is all about changing your habits: reading things more closely, and siloing key business conversations to protect them.