As an executive, you manage more than just teams. Handling finances, overseeing confidential client matters, and authorizing high-value transactions all make up a significant portion of your role. They’re also the very responsibilities that make you an ideal target for a sophisticated cyber-attack technique known as ‘executive phishing.’
Also called Business Email Compromise (BEC) or spear phishing, this form of attack isn’t your average spam. These aren’t scattershot attempts sent to thousands. They’re tailored, convincing, and highly targeted at decision-makers. Worse? They’re becoming a major concern for Calgary’s legal, accounting, and consulting firms.
What Is Executive Phishing?
Executive phishing is a cyberattack designed to trick someone into taking an action that benefits the attacker. Most commonly, this involves transferring money or sharing sensitive information. Unlike broad phishing campaigns, these attacks are personalized and often involve impersonating a trusted figure within the company, such as a managing partner, CFO, or client.
Attackers typically spend time researching their targets (or getting AI-powered tools to do it for them). They may study LinkedIn profiles, scrape websites for staff directories, or even compromise an internal account to gather context.
The result is a message that feels genuine and urgent, with requests that seem plausible. In other words, exactly the kind of message an executive or senior associate would act on quickly.
How These Attacks Happen in Practice
A managing partner receives a message that looks like it’s from the finance director. It’s marked urgent: a supplier invoice needs to be paid today to avoid penalty charges. The email includes real project names and amounts, as well as a request to transfer funds to a new bank account.
Elsewhere, an associate receives an email that appears to come from the firm’s founder, asking for client files to be shared for an upcoming meeting. The email signature, language, and tone all match what the team would expect.
In both scenarios, the attackers aren’t blasting emails into the void and hoping for the best. They’re deliberately exploiting the relationships, authority, and fast-paced workflows within the firm.
Where the Vulnerabilities Lie
Many professional services firms have strong technical safeguards in place. Your own probably employs firewalls, spam filters, and antivirus tools. But executive phishing often bypasses these defences entirely because it doesn’t rely on malicious links or attachments.
The most common weaknesses are human and procedural:
- Trust-based workflows: Senior staff are used to making quick decisions, especially when a message comes from a known contact.
- Informal verification: Few firms have processes in place for verifying unusual requests through a second channel.
- Busy inboxes: Executives handle a high volume of emails, which makes it easier to miss subtle red flags.
- Public information exposure: Firm websites and social media channels often provide attackers with the exact information they need to craft believable messages.
More than anything, though, these attacks rely on a lack of awareness. A 2025 Hoxhunt report found that executives are significantly more likely than employees to click on malicious content, suggesting the level of cybersecurity vigilance amongst the C-suite needs improving.
Building Stronger Defences
Preventing executive phishing requires a blend of smart technology, well-designed processes, and ongoing education. To start strengthening your position:
- Educate leadership teams regularly
Executives need specific training to recognize the tactics used against them. Short, focused sessions that include real-world examples can help busy professionals stay alert to impersonation tactics.
- Implement verification protocols
For any request involving money transfers, system access, or data sharing, create a simple verification rule. This can be as straightforward as confirming by phone (via a known contact number) or a secure messaging app before taking action.
- Use email authentication tools
Technologies like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM help reduce the risk of email spoofing. These should be properly configured for your domain to make impersonation more difficult.
- Limit access and permissions
Not every executive needs access to every system or piece of client data. Segment access and review permissions regularly to reduce the potential impact of compromised accounts.
- Monitor for suspicious activity
Anomalies in login locations, unusual email forwarding rules, or strange file access patterns can all be signs of compromise. The monitoring tools used by cybersecurity services in Calgary can catch these early.
How Evolution IT Supports Cybersecurity for Calgary’s Professional Services Executives
At Evolution IT, we understand the unique pressures faced by leadership teams in Calgary’s professional services sector. Our approach to cybersecurity isn’t just about blocking threats; it’s about enabling you to make safer, more confident decisions through education and smarter protection strategies.
Our services include:
- Security assessments tailored to your leadership structure and workflows
- Executive-focused training to raise awareness and reduce risky behaviours
- Policy development for approvals, financial transactions, and data handling
- Technical defences like multi-factor authentication, domain protection, and real-time monitoring
We work closely with firms to embed security at every level, without slowing down your day-to-day operations.
Safeguard Your Leadership Team Today
Executive phishing is one of the most sophisticated and damaging cyber threats facing Calgary’s professional services sector in 2025. But with the right safeguards in place, your firm can stop attacks before they succeed.
Let’s start simple: with a complimentary security review. We’ll help you identify and prioritize risks based on your needs and industry requirements. Then, you’ll get a jargon-free report explaining our findings and recommended next steps.
