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By: Mike Horrocks The Wall Street Journal just recently posted an article that mentioned the cost of the financial regulations for some of the largest banks.  Within the article it is staggering to see the cost of the financial crisis and also to see how so much of this could have been minimized by sound banking practices, adoption to technology, etc.  As a former commercial banker and as I talk with associates in the banking industry, I know that there are more causes to point at for the crisis then there are fingers…but that is not the purpose of my blog today. My point is the same thing I ask my teenage boys when they get in trouble, “Now, what are you going to do to fix it?” Here are a couple of ideas that I want to share with the banking industry.  Each bank and market you are going after is a bit unique; however think about these this week and what you could do. It is about the customer – the channel is just how you touch that customer.  Every day you hear the branch office is dead and that mobile is the next wave.  And yes, if I was a betting man, I would clearly say mobile is the way to go. But if you don’t do it right, you will drive customers away just as fast (check out the stats from a Google mobile banking study).    At the end of the day, make sure you are where your customers want to be (and yes for some that could even be a branch). Trust is king.  The Beatles may have said that “All You Need Is Love”, but in banking it is all about trust.  Will my transaction go thru? Will my account be safe? Will I be able to do all that I need to do on this mobile phone and still be safe since it also has Angry Birds on it?  If your customer cannot trust you to do what they feel are simple things, then they will walk.  You have to protect your customers, as they try to do business with you and others. Regulations are here to stay.  It pains me to say it, but this is going to be a truth for a long while.  Banks need to make sure they check the box, stay safe, and then get on to doing what they do best – identify and manage risk.  No bank will win the war for shareholder attention because they internally can answer the regulators better than the competition.  When you are dealing with complicated issues like  CCAR, Basel II or III, or any other item, working with professionals can help you stay on track. This last point represents a huge challenge for banks as the number of regulations imposed on financial institutions has grown significantly over the past five years. On top that the level of complexity behind each regulation is high, requiring in-depth knowledge to implement and comply. Lenders have to understand all the complexity of these regulations so they can find the balance to meet compliance obligations. At the same time they need to identify profitable business opportunities.     Make sure to read our Comply whitepaper to gain more insight on regulations affecting financial institutions and how you can prepare your business.  A little brainstorming and a single action toward each of these in the next 90 days will make a difference.  So now, what are you going to do to fix it?

Published: July 31, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Experian’s fraud prevention and identity management business helps clients combat the global fraud epidemic costing businesses hundreds of billions of dollars every year. Ori Eisen, founder of the 41st Parameter, a part of Experian, and Frank Abagnale Jr. talk to Bloomberg TV about the major new fraud threats emerging and how Experian can help protect organisations and their customers from becoming victims. Account takeover is a mainstream fraud issue as virtually any web site leveraging username and password authentication can be affected. As we wrote about earlier, another cybersecurity concern served as a reminder that managing fraud and protecting customer identities is becoming more complex as we are fighting creative and motivated people - not predictable systems. Watch the interview here:                         Learn more about Experian fraud intelligence products and services from 41st Parameter. 

Published: July 25, 2014 by Guest Contributor

A recent survey reveals that 30 percent of travelers have experienced identity theft while traveling or know someone who has.

Published: July 25, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Your password is weak, whether you use 40 random characters or your dog’s name. With so many large data breaches leading to hundreds of millions of compromised credentials and payment cards in the past two years, it's no surprise that e-commerce account takeover attempts have grown dramatically in recent months – to a degree we have never seen before. Previously, account takeover was primarily a banking issue, not something merchants had to deal with. Account takeover fraud is an alarming trend that spans global airline loyalty programs, e-commerce transactions, social networking logins and virtually any web site leveraging username and password authentication. News of the latest cybersecurity concern should serve as yet another reminder that we live in a heightened state of risk where establishing online trust based solely on username and password or identity data is not sufficient. There are a number of factors that are contributing to the evolving fraud landscape namely that the Internet was not designed for security.  This places pressure on organizations to continually adopt new approaches to managing fraud like this growing account takeover threat. In this case, multiple layered controls including device intelligence are essential. As merchants extend more services online and allow customers to store payment information or get more convenient checkout via logged in vs. guest access, we'll continue to see fraud migrating deeper into the e-commerce ecosystem. The account takeover problem will continue as consumers share usernames and passwords across dozens of online profiles and e-commerce logins, opening the door for attackers to access multiple accounts through a single compromised credential. Most of the account portals used by e-commerce merchants and loyalty programs were not built with the same level of security that their online transaction and fraud management systems have in place. So it's a bit of a new risk, but fraudsters are aggressively exploiting the security gaps around things like simple username/password authentication. What can consumers and organizations do to protect themselves? Our recommendation for consumers is that they have unique username and password combinations for every online profile. This protects against attackers compromising one site and leveraging the same credentials to access all of the victim's accounts and online profiles across the web. For businesses, we recommend implementing technology solutions that increase visibility to and recognition of devices for every online interaction so the organization can differentiate attackers from legitimate consumers. Some businesses believe that their products, services and loyalty offerings do not require the same level of protection as online bank accounts, so they leave them exposed to cyber criminals via simple authentication controls. As we’ve seen fraudsters will migrate to the path of least resistance and exploit the fact that most consumers re-use credentials out of convenience. In the digital age where consumers are increasingly represented by their devices the ability to know when there are authentication discrepancies between the data presented by the user and the device presenting those credentials is absolutely important to effectively controlling the threat. The authentication process will shift from a single view to a layered, risk-based authentication approach that will include comprehensive and real-time updates of consumer information. Conversations around the fact that the password is dead or dying have been circulating in the industry recently. What we don’t want is consumers getting tired of constantly changing passwords and giving up trying to protect themselves online. That is the worst case scenario that is becoming more of a reality as the days pass. Educated and aware consumers are still the best way to identify fraudulent attacks, and to keep identity data safe from hackers and devices free of malware. Increased adoption of biometrics, device intelligence and the sharing of authenticated and credentialed identities across industries will become commonplace to help combat account takeovers as they increase. Until then we need to find a password replacement.   Learn more about 41st Parameter: https://www.experian.com/decision-analytics/41st-parameter.html?INTCMP=DA_Blog_Post072414   Related: The World Cup of Fraud  

Published: July 24, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Your password is weak, whether you use 40 random characters or your dog’s name. With so many large data breaches leading to hundreds of millions of compromised credentials and payment cards in the past two years, it’s no surprise that e-commerce account takeover attempts have grown dramatically in recent months – to a degree we have never seen before. Previously, account takeover was primarily a banking issue, not something merchants had to deal with. Account takeover is an alarming trend that spans global airline loyalty programs, e-commerce transactions, social networking logins and virtually any web site leveraging username and password authentication. News of the latest cybersecurity concern should serve as yet another reminder that we live in a heightened state of risk where establishing online trust based solely on username and password or identity data is not sufficient. There are a number of factors that are contributing to the evolving fraud landscape namely that the Internet was not designed for security.  This places pressure on organizations to continually adopt new approaches to managing fraud like this growing account takeover threat. In this case, multiple layered controls including device intelligence are essential. As merchants extend more services online and allow customers to store payment information or get more convenient checkout via logged in vs. guest access, we’ll continue to see fraud migrating deeper into the e-commerce ecosystem. The account takeover problem will continue as consumers share usernames and passwords across dozens of online profiles and e-commerce logins, opening the door for attackers to access multiple accounts through a single compromised credential. Most of the account portals used by e-commerce merchants and loyalty programs were not built with the same level of security that their online transaction and fraud management systems have in place. So it’s a bit of a new risk, but fraudsters are aggressively exploiting the security gaps around things like simple username/password authentication. What can consumers and organizations do to protect themselves? Our recommendation for consumers is that they have unique username and password combinations for every online profile. This protects against attackers compromising one site and leveraging the same credentials to access all of the victim’s accounts and online profiles across the web. For businesses, we recommend implementing technology solutions that increase visibility to and recognition of devices for every online interaction so the organization can differentiate attackers from legitimate consumers. Some businesses believe that their products, services and loyalty offerings do not require the same level of protection as online bank accounts, so they leave them exposed to cyber criminals via simple authentication controls. As we’ve seen fraudsters will migrate to the path of least resistance and exploit the fact that most consumers re-use credentials out of convenience. In the digital age where consumers are increasingly represented by their devices the ability to know when there are authentication discrepancies between the data presented by the user and the device presenting those credentials is absolutely important to effectively controlling the threat. The authentication process will shift from a single view to a layered, risk-based authentication approach that will include comprehensive and real-time updates of consumer information. Conversations around the fact that the password is dead or dying have been circulating in the industry recently. What we don’t want is consumers getting tired of constantly changing passwords and giving up trying to protect themselves online. That is the worst case scenario that is becoming more of a reality as the days pass. Educated and aware consumers are still the best way to identify fraudulent attacks, and to keep identity data safe from hackers and devices free of malware. Increased adoption of biometrics, device intelligence and the sharing of authenticated and credentialed identities across industries will become commonplace to help combat account takeovers as they increase. Until then we need to find a password replacement. Learn more about 41st Parameter fraud detection and prevention solutions here.

Published: July 24, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Your password is weak, whether you use 40 random characters or your dog’s name. With so many large data breaches leading to hundreds of millions of compromised credentials and payment cards in the past two years, it’s no surprise that e-commerce account takeover attempts have grown dramatically in recent months – to a degree we have never seen before. Previously, account takeover was primarily a banking issue, not something merchants had to deal with. Account takeover is an alarming trend that spans global airline loyalty programs, e-commerce transactions, social networking logins and virtually any web site leveraging username and password authentication. News of the latest cybersecurity concern should serve as yet another reminder that we live in a heightened state of risk where establishing online trust based solely on username and password or identity data is not sufficient. There are a number of factors that are contributing to the evolving fraud landscape namely that the Internet was not designed for security.  This places pressure on organizations to continually adopt new approaches to managing fraud like this growing account takeover threat. In this case, multiple layered controls including device intelligence are essential. As merchants extend more services online and allow customers to store payment information or get more convenient checkout via logged in vs. guest access, we’ll continue to see fraud migrating deeper into the e-commerce ecosystem. The account takeover problem will continue as consumers share usernames and passwords across dozens of online profiles and e-commerce logins, opening the door for attackers to access multiple accounts through a single compromised credential. Most of the account portals used by e-commerce merchants and loyalty programs were not built with the same level of security that their online transaction and fraud management systems have in place. So it’s a bit of a new risk, but fraudsters are aggressively exploiting the security gaps around things like simple username/password authentication. What can consumers and organizations do to protect themselves? Our recommendation for consumers is that they have unique username and password combinations for every online profile. This protects against attackers compromising one site and leveraging the same credentials to access all of the victim’s accounts and online profiles across the web. For businesses, we recommend implementing technology solutions that increase visibility to and recognition of devices for every online interaction so the organization can differentiate attackers from legitimate consumers. Some businesses believe that their products, services and loyalty offerings do not require the same level of protection as online bank accounts, so they leave them exposed to cyber criminals via simple authentication controls. As we’ve seen fraudsters will migrate to the path of least resistance and exploit the fact that most consumers re-use credentials out of convenience. In the digital age where consumers are increasingly represented by their devices the ability to know when there are authentication discrepancies between the data presented by the user and the device presenting those credentials is absolutely important to effectively controlling the threat. The authentication process will shift from a single view to a layered, risk-based authentication approach that will include comprehensive and real-time updates of consumer information. Conversations around the fact that the password is dead or dying have been circulating in the industry recently. What we don’t want is consumers getting tired of constantly changing passwords and giving up trying to protect themselves online. That is the worst case scenario that is becoming more of a reality as the days pass. Educated and aware consumers are still the best way to identify fraudulent attacks, and to keep identity data safe from hackers and devices free of malware. Increased adoption of biometrics, device intelligence and the sharing of authenticated and credentialed identities across industries will become commonplace to help combat account takeovers as they increase. Until then we need to find a password replacement. Learn more about 41st Parameter fraud detection and prevention solutions here.

Published: July 24, 2014 by Guest Contributor

While automotive loan originations grew 15 percent year over year in Q1 2014, a recent Experian Automotive study found that more consumers are continuing to drive older-model vehicles.

Published: July 18, 2014 by Guest Contributor

In our most recent webinar, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel session with four fraud experts spanning across many diverse backgrounds. The consistent theme throughout was that cyber criminals have become quite proficient at stealing data or account credentials. Once a cyber criminal has valid account data, they have incredible access to a broad range of possibilities. How an account is used; a real-time view of deposit and withdrawal patterns and what types of alerts and notification settings are in place. A determined fraudster may observe accounts for long periods to ensure they are able to make their move at the optimal time. One of the biggest issues is being able to tell “friend from foe”, particularly in light of the endless supply of perfect, disposable data. I posed this scenario to our panel and asked what organizations can do now to protect themselves: SCENARIO – Telling friend from foe Credit card companies encourage travellers to alert them in advance of unusual travel to avoid red flags or declines while out of town. This can be a double-edged sword. A fraudster with appropriate credentials can contact a credit card company a few weeks before a “trip” to alert them of planned travel. At the start of the “trip” the distraught fraudster can then contact the credit card company to report a stolen card and request a replacement be expedited to them at their “destination.” The result is a fraudster armed with a completely legitimate card they can use at their leisure and with little risk of detection. There were three key take-aways the expert panel recommended: Enhance your visibility. Without this important tactic, you won’t know what hit you. Fraudsters are armed with pristine identity data so they will look and act more like your best customers. Employee multiple security layers. You may be focused on ensuring that you know your customer, but does the transaction pattern fit normal behavior for the user? Malware could be embedded on the device. Are items such as language and other settings consistent with what you’d expect for your legitimate customers? Protect profile setups / online enrolment and reward programs the way you protect transactions. While the financial risk to your business may be limited, the potential regulatory exposure and brand reputation hit can be significant. It takes years to build your reputation with your best customers – but only seconds to destroy it. Undermining their trust in online or mobile interactions with your business has an immediate and destructive impact on loyalty. What do you think? Let us know.

Published: July 14, 2014 by Guest Contributor

  Residential real estate lending was the leading component of the Great Recession of 2007-2009.  Could it happen again?  Let’s analyze our Intelliview data  to see where U.S. lending trends are headed with HELOCs. A large portion of Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) were originated from 2004 to 2007.  The term structure of these HELOCs will soon result in larger monthly payments, which could potentially promote consumer debt burden troubles.  Additionally, with as much as 13% of all first mortgage customers having balances greater than the value of homes, many HELOCs wallow underwater. HELOCs typically have a ten year draw followed by a twenty-year repayment period. However, there are variations in the term structures.  HELOCs can have as little as a five year draw, while others have a fifteen year repayment period.  During the draw period, customers only pay interest on the balance.  In the repayment period, the account functions like a loan, customers pay principal and interest. In 2012, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC, the primary banking regulator) reported that 58% of all bank HELOC balances would enter the repayment period and begin to amortize between 2014 and 2017 (OCC, Semiannual Risk Perspective, Spring 2012).  This report renewed fears that the increase in payments would lead to higher delinquencies and foreclosures, limit consumer spend and provide a drag on the U.S. economy. Paradoxically, the OCC estimates of the HELOC balances entering the repayment period may be low.  The OCC has accounted only for $392 billion of HELOC balances among banks.  Experian’s review of all HELOC trades shows a significantly higher level of balances.  Additionally, American Banker estimates the top 200 banks and thrifts had more than $477 billion in HELOC outstanding as of the end of 2013, with the top three lenders (Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase) comprising nearly $300 billion. Experian examined HELOCs in the four states with the greatest surges in home values and lending prior to the Great Recession.  California comprises nearly 19% of all HELOC balances and lines.  With averaging HELOC balances of 53% above the national mean, Arizona, Florida and Nevada are the three highest utilization rates by state.  Nevada has the highest 30+ day delinquency rate in the country at 2.92%, while the national average is 1.64%.           According to CoreLogic’s most recent home price index report, Nevada, Florida and Arizona home prices remain 30-39% below their peak real estate values.  California’s prices are down 17%, and the national average home value is still 14% below its highest value. Refinancing HELOCs may be difficult due to the significant number of second liens still underwater.  Compounding this difficulty, lending standards also have tightened, with regard to loan-to-value, debt ratios and credit quality. The average HELOC was examined at a 4.5% interest rate and a 20 year repayment period.  The average monthly payment increases almost 69% when the account leaves the draw period and requires paying principal balance as well as interest. This payment increase accounts for approximately 2.6% of the median U.S. household gross annual income. It is estimated that the increase in HELOC payments will comprise $1 billion in additional annual payments during 2014, and an additional $9 billion between 2015 through 2017.   However, it is important to remember that not all HELOCs will reach repayment. HELOCs are priced based on the prime rate.  That rate has been 3.25% for more than five years, a historical low.  When prime rate reached this level in December 2008, the rate was at its lowest in 53 years.  Only 18 months prior to reaching 3.25%, the prime rate had been 8%. If the prime rate increases by 1% to 4.25%, the average payment of accounts in the draw period would increase 22%, affecting just about every HELOC, with a national increase in annual payments of about $5 billion. The volume of HELOCs that are beginning to enter the repayment period may eventually increase delinquency rates.  However, no such increase is yet evident.  As shown below, delinquency rates are steady after a long decline.  In the past three years, 90+ days delinquency has declined 41%.     The Majority of HELOCs are second mortgages.   Successful completion of a foreclosure would involve making the customer’s monthly first mortgage payment in addition to all other expenses incurred in foreclosure and the sale of the property.   Very often foreclosing from a second lien does not make financial sense unless the financial institution also holds the first mortgage on the property. As a large portion of HELOCs enter the repayment period in the next four years, the payments that customers must make will increase considerably.  With interest rates as low as they are, the prime rate will eventually rise, and increase debt service ratios.  These payment increases will have implications on consumers, lenders and the economy.  Having grown 10.5% in the last year,  home values continue to recover from the recession.  It is yet to be determined whether this payment increase will have a broader or more isolated impact. In the meantime, HELOCs will continue to see their resurgence. For more insight like this from Experian Decision Analytics, watch our 2014 Q1 Experian–Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Report presentation.    

Published: July 11, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Are you sure you are making the best consumer credit decisions? Given the constantly evolving market conditions, it is a challenge to keep informed. In order to confidently grow and manage the bottom line, organizations need to avoid these four basic risks of making credit decisions with limited trend visibility. Competitive Risk - With limited visibility to industry trends, organizations cannot understand their position relative to peers. Product Risk - Organizations without access to the latest consumer behaviors cannot identify and capitalize on emerging trends. Market Risk - Decisions suffer when made without considering market trends in the context of the economy. Resource Risk - Extracting useful insights from vast market data requires abundant resources and comprehensive expertise. Get more information on the business risks of navigating credit decisions with limited trend visibility.

Published: July 10, 2014 by Guest Contributor

A recent study conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that a data breach is among the top three occurrences that affect brand reputation, along with poor customer service and an environmental incident.

Published: July 10, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Universe expansion is key to any lender's growth strategy. Sophisticated, advanced risk models, such as the VantageScore®3.0 model, allow lenders to score up to 35 million more consumers than other risk models.

Published: July 3, 2014 by Guest Contributor

According to Experian Marketing Services’ Q1 2014 Email Benchmark Report, personalized abandoned cart emails that dynamically show the actual customer cart had 25 percent higher transaction rates than reminder emails that just linked back to the brand’s Website.

Published: June 30, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Data breach notification letters serve multiple purposes. They ensure a breached company is compliant with data breach notification laws, they alert consumers to the breach and their involvement in it, they can warn customers of potential identity theft risks and educate them on how to cope with those risks. The one thing no company wants its notification letter to do, however, is make the recipients any more upset than they already are. Yet that’s the reaction many consumers reported upon having received data breach notification letters, according to the study “The Aftermath of a Mega Data Breach: Consumer Sentiment.” Conducted by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of Experian Data Breach Resolution, the study provides some eye-opening insights into how consumers feel and what they do after receiving a breach notification letter. To put consumer sentiment in perspective, consider these revelations from the study: Among those polled, 63% said they felt the breached company should offer consumers identity theft protection by way of compensation, yet just 25% of people who had received a notification letter said were offered identity theft protection in that letter. The financial impact of the data breach was less significant for consumers than the emotional aspects. 81% of data breach victims said they had not out-of-pocket costs because of the breach. Conversely, 76% said they experienced stress as a result of the breach. Consumers ranked a data breach as the third-most damaging event for a company’s reputation. Only poor customer service and an environmental incident (e.g. an oil spill or pollution) were seen as more damaging. Other than getting stressed, what, then, do consumers do after they’ve received a data breach notification letter? Most do little or nothing at all, which should be just as concerning to companies as the customers who end their business relationship with a company in the wake of a data breach. More than half (55%) said they did nothing to protect their identities after receiving a notification letter, and 32% ignored the notifications and did nothing at all. This may seem counter-intuitive considering that the majority (77%) were at least somewhat to very concerned about becoming an identity theft victim because of the breach. Perhaps if these customers had been offered free identity theft protection in the notification letter, they would have accepted the offer. These survey results underscore the need for companies to send strong, informative and compassionate data breach notification letters – and to offer consumers identity theft protection as part of the company’s data breach response. Learn more about our Data Breach solutions

Published: June 26, 2014 by Guest Contributor

Today I co-hosted a TweetChat with Experian on mobile fraud trends. To be honest, it was the first Twitter Chat I took part in. It was fun, informative and a great way to connect with folks in our industry – from our customer base, partners and more. The discussion was fast paced and the 140-character limit for tweets means I wasn’t able to elaborate on many of the points I made. Thus, thought I would share my insight through a blog post. What are the most common types of mobile fraud?   Malware. According to Forbes, 97 percent of mobile malware is on Android devices. That’s not to say that Apple isn’t seeing it, too. They are, but at a much reduced scale due to their validation processes. Forbes also states that android malware rose from 238 threats in 2012 to 804 new threats in 2013 and continues to rise. Mobile malware has a couple of varieties that everyone should be aware of. They’re increasingly common and you’ve likely seen the first one making media headlines like rapid fire in recent months: Ransomware: locks a user’s phone and fraudsters demand payment to unlock it. Credential stealing malware: attempts to capture the credentials of the victim as they access a service. Premium dialing/texting malware that uses victim phones to increase traffic and charges to rogue accounts. Mobile fraud, as a category, also needs to include the use of the mobile device by fraudsters as the attacking instrument. Fraudsters exploit the fact that organizations may not have applied the same security measures to their mobile access points that they have in their traditional online access. Big mistake. All organizations should make sure that they are not exposed to fraud originating from the mobile channel (either mobile app or mobile web based.) Companies need to ensure they can identify the device regardless of platform. Am I more at risk on my mobile device than I am on my computer?  As a consumer, industry data has illustrated that there is no significant difference between the risk of the PC and a mobile device. The PC is still a much more valuable target to fraudsters, considering its wide use. But as the mobile platform continues to grow, mobile exploits are also growing, forcing the industry to build in more robust strategies around mobile access. This includes the platform providers, app developers and businesses that want to increase their mobile offerings. The bigger point here is that the Apple platform has much less malware activity than the Android platform does today. Apple has stringent developer policies and scrutiny. For businesses, as a relative percentage of device activity, we are beginning to see that there is more fraud in the mobile channel than in the traditional channel. Bear in mind that mobile volumes today are still much smaller than the traditional PC. Mobile can also be a fraud staging area, where fraudsters can see balances and activity and then takeover your account… But this is not a vulnerability with the consumer using their device, rather it’s with the fraudsters using the mobile channel since it’s a separate channel where the banks may not have effective cross-channel visibility. How do I know if you have a legitimate app vs a fake / fraudulent app?  There are a few simple steps to verify the legitimacy of apps – check for typos, grainy logos and images and check user reviews on the app store. Moreover, this is an issue of where users are getting their apps. Make sure you are only downloading apps from the platforms’ authorized app environments. And keep in mind that the prevalence of malware on the Google Play platform is much higher than that on the AppStore. What other risks do mobile devices pose to personal identity? The phone doesn’t necessarily present greater risks than PCs, but people do tend to use them more frequently, and with less of a thought toward security. My advice: make a habit of locking your phone and don’t buy apps from sketchy platforms. What are the methods that banks and retailers are choosing to secure mobile payments? It’s a device access versus personal access issue. Need for business is to recognize devices regardless of payment type.  In the NFC space, there’s also a question of liability… who is on the hook when happens? Is it the merchant? The card issuer?  There are still some gray areas when it comes to mobile wallet (NFC) transactions being used for physical purchases. For NFC (in person) payments, the POS makers use industry standards – but they can still be vulnerable to attack based on malware distributed via POS terminals, as we have seen lately. For mobile bank payments – some banks use device recognition and device behavior– but all banks really should use it – best way to detect rogue activity from the device. Most retail mobile payments are tied to a wallet – so wallet providers must also secure access to the wallet ensure that it doesn’t become the weakest link. Will passwords ever die? What other forms of identification might be used?   For businesses, passwords are already dead, since most have been stolen over the years. Businesses should be using device recognition – it’s one of the strongest tools to differentiate between good and bad users. Any final tips on how people can protect themselves from mobile fraud?  Don’t buy apps from sketchy third party platforms. Don’t click on links from untrusted parties, lock your device, make sure your device is backed up and don’t pay ransomware demands. If you have any other questions that weren’t answered in the #TweetChat, please leave a comment here or tweet to me at @DBritton41st.  

Published: June 25, 2014 by David Britton

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