If your leadership team spends more time forwarding suspicious emails than leading, you’re not alone. In 2024 the FBI recorded phishing and spoofing as the top internet crime complaint in the U.S., while malware ranked last by complaint count. Losses reached 16.6 billion nationwide. Texas was among the most affected states.
Why This Matters to Austin and Central Texas Companies
• Most growth companies run on email approvals and remote workflows. Phishers know it
• Attackers don’t need to break in when your inbox can be persuaded
• “Malware” shows up less as a complaint category because today’s damage is often classified as business email compromise, extortion, data breach, or investment scams rather than a virus infection alone.
Meanwhile, commodity malware is more often blocked by modern controls, so the bigger pain shows up where humans and money move
Ignoring it Raises The Stakes
• Cash flow at risk - Wire and ACH changes, payroll diversion, and vendor impersonation
• Reputation at risk - A single inbox breach can expose clients, partners, and legal matters
• Productivity at risk - Constant triage drains leadership focus and slows deals
Nationally, investment scams and business email compromise account for the largest losses, and seniors and executives are frequent targets.
CTTS as Your Local Guide
For more than two decades, we’ve helped organizations in Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, Temple, San Marcos, Buda, Bastrop, Taylor, Jarrell, and New Braunfels turn email from a liability into a strength. Our approach is executive-friendly and measurable. We map risk to business impact, upgrade identity and email controls, coach your team, and put clear verification steps around money movement.
A practical plan any CEO can champion:
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Make identity your new perimeter
Adopt multi-factor authentication across Microsoft 365, enforce Conditional Access, and remove legacy protocols that bypass MFA. Require passwordless or phishing-resistant options for leadership and finance. -
Make email your safest system
Deploy advanced filtering and impersonation protection, URL and attachment sandboxing, and enforce DMARC, SPF, and DKIM so your domain can’t be easily abused. Tune rules for executives, finance, legal, and HR. -
Verify money movement out of band
Create a two-step approval for changes to bank details, payment instructions, or W-9s. Require voice verification to a known number, not the one in the email. Document this in an easy BEC playbook. -
Turn clicks into reports
Run short, regular awareness training and targeted simulations for executives and assistants. Make reporting easy with a one-click “Report Phish” button and celebrate fast reporters. -
Prepare to recover quickly
Keep versioned, immutable backups for email and critical systems. Test incident response twice a year so you know who does what in the first 60 minutes.
What success looks like:
• Fewer suspicious emails reaching inboxes
• Staff reporting real threats instead of guessing
• Finance blocking wire fraud attempts with calm confidence
• Executives are moving faster because the noisy risk is handled
Next Step
If you want fewer surprises and a plan your leadership team can follow, schedule a free strategy session with CTTS. We’ll review your current controls, show you quick wins, and map the path to a safer inbox and steadier operations across Central Texas.
FAQ
Why is malware so low on the FBI list if it is still dangerous
Complaints are categorized by the type of crime rather than the specific tool. Many modern attacks that involve malware are reported as business email compromise, data breach, or extortion. Also, endpoint and email controls block a lot of commodity malware before it becomes a reportable incident. In 2024, malware complaints were 441 nationwide.
Which teams are most targeted in Austin-area businesses
Executives, finance, HR, and anyone who approves invoices or payroll changes. Email and text are the common entry points, often using local vendor and project details to appear legitimate. National data shows email-driven fraud drives the largest reported losses.
What’s the fastest improvement we can make this month
Enforce MFA and Conditional Access, publish DMARC with an enforcement policy, and implement an out-of-band verification step for any payment or bank-detail change. Those three moves immediately cut a large share of risk.
Contact CTTS today for IT support and managed services in Austin, TX. Let us handle your IT so you can focus on growing your business. Visit CTTSonline.com or call us at (512) 388-5559 to get started!