How did Cyber Criminals take advantage of Financial Institutes during Covid-19?

After Covid–19 most financial institutions and consumers have been moving steadily toward digitalization. The mass adoption of online services and apps permits more people to use services that they may in any other case not have access to without in-person engagement. However, this creates new opportunities for fraud and threats. Due to which banking and financial institutions have been hit particularly hard by fraudsters.

To fight back, financial institutions must adopt stronger threat detection and prevention measures to mitigate risk. Below are some of the trendy strategies fraudsters are using to take advantage of digital onboarding and a few key steps financial institutions can take to protect themselves and their customers.

In many ways, the modern online environment is a financial fraudster’s dream. As financial institutions undertake all-digital processes for customer onboarding and interactions that used to require a few in-person contacts also. Plus, the explosion of ransomware attacks has flooded the dark web with extraordinary amounts of stolen client information and personally identifiable information (PII). In other words, financial institutions are locating themselves extra vulnerable to identity threats simply because the dark web market for stolen identities and has become extra saturated than ever.

After a large number of financial institutions shifted to remotely the cybercriminals often as legitimate users to launch their attacks. This is performed by acquiring identity data from the dark web and the use of stolen photos and profiles to steal identities and financial assets. Fraudsters additionally have a tendency to optimize and refine their fake credentials and profiles to attack multiple financial institutions multiple times.

Use Tools and strategies to protect against the enhanced risk

With better visibility of the fraud landscape, financial institutions can defend their data and protect the customer with the help of effective plan and structure operation. Some several key tools and capabilities will likely be part of any successful strategy.

Liveness detection:

This tool allows financial institutions to verify whether a user is physically present during each login or not. This technique helps to identify the difference between a live man and a fake representation that may try to spoof the verification system. Liveness detection can help financial companies fight the improved image-hijacking strategies defined above through algorithms that analyze data collected from biometric sensors to decide whether the source is live or reproduced.

Advanced facial authentication:

This feature allows companies to compare the face of the users against a database of faces from previous historical transactions. This can alert the company if the fraudster has already been seen withinside the database to the usage of different names or credentials, a particularly powerful tool in opposition to fraud rings and repeat fraudsters. These tools ensure that the account is accessed by the true account owner and not a fraudster with stolen data.

Enhanced transaction monitoring

Enhanced transaction monitoring is powerful in keeping up with the extended pace of money laundering attempts from cybercriminals. By imposing a transaction monitoring tool that could be performed in real-time and at scale, a company can become aware of the suspicious activity and report it to regulatory authorities, making sure compliance.

Staying one step ahead of cybercriminals

During the pandemic, cybercriminals have become increasingly active to take advantage of the remote customer interactions and stolen credentials available on the dark web. Financial institutions can mitigate those risks with the proper understanding of the trendy attack strategies and the proper techniques and tools to fight those attacks to preserve customer privacy, assets, and trust in the organization. This is a trend that will continue as consumers themselves come to be extra literate about advances in fraudulent techniques and demand their financial institutions rise to the challenge.