5 Must-Reads: Fraudsters Have Improved – Have We?

September 7, 2018 Co-op Solutions

Fraudsters

There’s no question about it: Fraudsters are getting better. They’re faster, more resourceful and they are using better technology. Think back five or ten years at how fraud used to be carried out. Then take a quick scan at the kinds of crimes being committed today – massive data breaches, account takeovers, ATM jackpotting, the list goes on.

Are the rest of us advancing at the same pace? We’re not so sure. This week’s Washington Post story written by a consultant working with Democrats on email security tells a tale of willful ignorance and a stubborn inability to adapt. It’s not politics that make this story interesting, but rather the near-universal human tendency to cling to insecure practices as if they are security blankets. The fight against fraud, it seems, is also a fight against human nature.

Fortunately, cyber-security technology is getting smarter – making it possible for fraud detection systems to learn on the fly and helping consumers monitor their own account activity. Credit unions are getting smarter as well; this week’s stories highlight new ways to beef up call center security, arm the C-suite against phishing scams and learn the basics of cybersecurity in a changing world.

We are getting better at fighting fraud, even if sometimes we have to fight our own reluctance to change first.

As Payment Fraud Spikes, Customers Can Aid in Prevention

Payments Source

How actively do your members participate in their own security? Here’s a compelling argument that increasing member involvement is a good idea. It’s not just member education or a shift in liability toward your members that can make a difference: New technologies that enable members to better track and control activities add an effective layer of security that complements existing fraud control methods.

Whaling Is the New Phishing Scam

PYMNTS

If your team is learning how to combat phishing scams, you might want to sit in on the training too. “A new tactic from phishers reveals how vulnerable the C-suite is,” says this PYMNTS story. “Whaling” is phishing that’s aimed at upper-level executives, who may have even more valuable information to share than lower-level staff.

AI and the Not-Too-Distant Future of Payments

Payments Journal

Payments need to get smarter – and so does the security we use to safeguard them, particularly as we confront an ever-smarter fraudster landscape. In this story, CO-OP’s own Patrice Lee lays out the near future of AI in payments, including CO-OP’s current foray into machine learning for fraud detection.

Thwarting Call Center Fraud Without Affecting Member Experience

Credit Union Times

High-volume, high-pressure call centers are fertile ground for fraudsters, who “spoof caller IDs and abuse interactive voice recognition systems to try to reset victims’ PINs, test account numbers, or extract more information.” 1 in 895 call-center calls is fraudulent – up 113 percent over last year. Yet, treating members like criminals until proven otherwise isn’t the way to deliver an excellent member experience. Finding the right balance between security and service is a timely challenge.

Scoville Heat Scale of Cyber-Threats

Forbes

The Scoville Heat Scale is typically used to measure the heat of spicy peppers but someone has creatively translated it for the world of cybersecurity. This neatly-written hierarchy of security threats helps clarify the level of concern we should have around certain cyber-attacks.

Don’t miss the next Fraudbuzz Webinar on September 20 at 11am PT, where we’ll discuss the latest threats your credit union should know about and how to mitigate them.

The original article 5 Must-Reads: Fraudsters Have Improved – Have We? can be found on Insight Vault.

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