Cybercrime is one of the dark forces shaping the internet. Every year it seems that each side–security experts and cybercriminals–steps up its efforts. A report from ThreatMetrix examines the current landscape and details the expansion of cybercrime since this time last year.
ThreatMetrix analyzed 5.5 billion transactions within its network from January through March. The company identifies fraudulent transactions using many metrics, including “device identification, geolocation, previous history and behavioral analytics.” The network is able to track user identities across platforms and devices.
The company detected and stopped more than 100 million transactions during the survey period, which was almost a 52 percent increase over the previous year. Additionally, 311 million bot attacks were identified and stopped, which is a 34 percent increase since the fourth quarter of last year.
Because of low registration requirements, login fraud and fraudulent account creations are high among the media and entertainment verticals, and they account for 39 percent and 36 percent, respectively, of all attacks detected by ThreatMetrix. Fraudulent new account creation was up 175 percent year-over-year.
Once account data is leaked, bot attacks increase dramatically as criminals try to take advantage of these compromised accounts. While this can be particularly damaging to the financial and e-commerce industries, if social data leaks, it puts users at risk of identify fraud and puts their contacts at even greater risk of fraud in the future.
Mobile growth has been a driving force for the internet, social media, e-commerce and even banking in recent years, so naturally the fraud has followed. 94 percent of users in the media sector are mobile-only, and now 55 percent of financial transactions from users are from mobile. In addition to providing a seamless experience, these industries need to prioritize cross-platform identity protections to protect user data.
For more information on the prevalence of fraud and to see markers that identify fraudulent users, download the full report.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
No comments:
Post a Comment