DUAL AUTHORIZATION: YOUR BEST DEFENSE
Why dual authorization stops business email compromise attacks before money moves. A simple two-person rule that prevents costly wire fraud.
Last Tuesday, a startup founder wired $28,000 to a scammer.
The email looked normal.
Same vendor name.
Same invoice format.
Same signature.
The only difference was invisible.
The bank details had changed.
The message said, “We’ve updated our payment account. Please use this new information going forward.”
He did.
By the time anyone noticed, the money was gone.
This is how most business email compromise attacks work.
Not with hacks.
Not with malware.
With trust.
Attackers don’t break in.
They blend in.
That’s why dual authorization remains one of the most effective defenses businesses can deploy.
Here’s the rule that matters.
No money moves based on one person and one message. Ever.
Think of it as the two-yes rule.
Any request involving payments, bank detail changes, gift cards, or urgent transfers must receive two independent confirmations.
Two people.
Two channels.
Email plus a phone call.
Slack plus a known contact.
Invoice plus a verbal check.
If one “yes” comes from email alone, it doesn’t count.
This isn’t about bureaucracy.
It’s about removing single points of failure.
Most scams succeed because they catch one busy person on one distracted day.
Dual authorization forces a pause.
Pauses break scams.
Your one thing today
Write this sentence into your finance process, your Slack channel, or your internal policy:
“Any payment or bank detail change requires two people and two channels.”
It’s simple.
It’s boring.
And it saves real money.
SO Email Security helps teams spot high-risk emails before trust turns into loss. Protect your inbox before the damage is done.