If you think your business wouldn’t be of interest to hackers, think again. For construction firms, every blueprint, bid, and contract represents not just months or years of planning and valuable intellectual property, but significant sums of money–making the industry a prime target for cybercriminals and fraudsters. Beyond stealing or locking up your data for ransom, bad actors are increasingly impersonating construction companies or their vendors to trick recipients into sending funds to the wrong account.
Construction companies manage high-value transactions, as well as sensitive data, yet many still operate with outdated systems, limited IT infrastructure, and inconsistent security practices. All of that creates a perfect storm for cyber attacks. Protecting your digital and financial assets requires both knowledge and a robust cybersecurity strategy. At Nessit, we educate our customers about potential threats, arming them with information so they can protect their end customers.
When cyber criminals know that large payments are changing hands, they try two main tactics:
- Impersonation: Bad actors impersonating your business send bogus “change of payment” notices to your clients to get them to pay a fake account.
- Vendor Invoice Fraud: Posing as one of your suppliers or subs, submitting a fraudulent invoice, and directing funds to the attacker’s bank.
5 Common Cyberthreats to Watch Out For
- Phishing Attacks: Targeted emails or messages that attempt to trick employees into divulging passwords or approving fake invoices.
- Ransomware: Malware that locks up your data and demands payment to release it.
- Business Email Compromise: Attackers spoof or hack executive email accounts to redirect payments.
- Third-Party Vulnerabilities: Many construction projects involve vendors, subcontractors, and partners. If they’re not secure, neither are you.
- Unsecured Devices: Tablets, laptops, and mobile phones are often used in the field, creating more points of entry for attackers.
Nessit understands the issues that construction companies face when it comes to security, and we take a proactive multi-faceted approach to safeguarding both your data and your bottom line.
Steps to Strengthen Your Defenses
- Implement Dual Controls for Payments
Two-step verification: require two separate approvals before any large money transfer.
Out-of-band confirmation: if you get an email requesting a payment account change, always call a known number (not the one in the email) to verify.
- Apply a Layered Cybersecurity Strategy
Firewalls & endpoint protection: block unauthorized access to your network and devices.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA): protect email, finance systems, and file-sharing platforms
Secure VPNs & encrypted channels: all files should be encrypted both in transit and at rest to ensure that data is unreadable if intercepted.
Regular backups: daily backups, stored securely off-site or in the cloud, ensure that even if something goes wrong, your data can be recovered.
- Educate Your Team–and Your Clients
Employee training: even the best cybersecurity tools can be undone by human error, which is the leading cause of cyber breaches. Employee cybersecurity training programs that teach your team how to spot phishing and BEC attempts, use strong passwords, verify invoice details, and handle payment-change requests. Ongoing cybersecurity education is crucial!
Client awareness: provide your customers with clear instructions about how you’ll request payments (“We will send all payment instructions from the following email and will never ask you to change accounts via email.”)
- Lock Down Access and Monitor Continuously
Role-based permissions: set user permissions so only authorized team members can view or edit sensitive files. Only give employees the minimum access they require for their role–blueprints to designers, bids to estimators, financial systems to accounting, etc.
24/7 threat monitoring: use intrusion detection tools to catch anomalies. A comprehensive cybersecurity strategy includes continuous monitoring to identify and respond to issues before they become full-blown problems.
- Have a Financial-Incident Response Plan
Predefined protocols: if you suspect payment fraud, have a clear checklist ready: who to notify internally, how to contact your bank, and how to notify vendors who have been affected.
Drills and updates: test your plan regularly and refine it based on evolving threats and any vulnerabilities that are identified.
Cybersecurity might not be the first thing you think of when you’re managing complex construction projects, but a single successful fraud or data breach can stop your projects cold, erode client trust, and swallow profit margins. Robust cybersecurity is a must-have, not a nice-to-have, especially if you are scaling your construction company.
Every business is different, and Nessit’s client-centered approach means we tailor our service to your company’s specific needs. We have the tools and expertise to keep your construction firm secure, compliant, and confident. As your trusted partner, we’ll help keep your finances secure, your blueprints safe, and your business running smoothly 24/7.
Let’s talk about IT support for your construction company.
