The Green Sheet Online Edition

February 08, 2021 • Issue 21:02:01

Readers Speak: Account takeover remediation

Michael Boukadakis, CEO of ENACOMM, sent us sobering data on account takeovers (ATOs). "ATOs—identity theft where a criminal gains unauthorized access to an online account belonging to somebody else—spiked by almost 282 percent from Q2 2019 to Q2 2020 and increased by almost 300% during the pandemic, according to the Sift Digital Trust and Safety Index," he wrote.

Boukadakis also mentioned that thePayments Risk & Fraud Consortium, of which ENACOMM is a founding member, just released a whitepaper, 3 Tips to Avoid Account Takeover: Modern Detection & Prevention, which identifies pre-fraud indicators and measurements that are essential in reducing account takeover fraud.

Following is a brief summary he provided of those tips:

1. Layer fraud prevention solutions to easily pivot in light of the latest fraud patterns: There is no one solution that will solve all fraud issues. To add to the challenge, criminals constantly devise new methods of attack or resurrect their old favorites with new twists.
2. Use specialized data services that identify and match user credentials that are at-risk for account takeover due to breached data exposures: Matching logins against confirmed, exposed data is the most sustainable solution in stopping account takeovers for organizations and long-term for all industries. This method not only helps isolate fraudsters but will also help build cases for future prosecution to get criminals "off the street."
3. Monitor bot traffic behavioral patterns for abnormalities for temporary attack relief: This type of monitoring postpones bots from revisiting an organization's site with reconfigured, masked attributes or pushes them to move to another site, which unfortunately perpetuates the cycle of attacks on all industries.

The whitepaper is available at www.fraudconsortium.org/3-tips-to-avoid-account-takeover.

Tips to share?

We wish to thank Michael Boukadakis for reaching out. Do you have advice or insights to share with your colleagues in the payments community? Why not sound off right here? In 300 words or fewer, explore salient issues, concerns and opportunities, and you might see your byline on this page. We will welcome your perspectives, as well as your questions, at greensheet@greensheet.com.

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