Early Fraud Detection System Unveiled By MasterCard

 

With the world continuing to experience great change, leading to many developments in the electronic and IT sectors, the familiar situation thus theft and hacking continue to increase. According to research, hacking is rising exponentially and this always gives the cause for worry about hackers gaining access to your credit cards and making a grab for your money.

This current situation has led to people seeking better ways to avoid being affected. Well, the wait seems to be over for some people as MasterCard, one of the leading global payments Technology Company that connects consumers, businesses, merchants, issuers, and governments all over the world has announced its new Early Fraud Detection System.

The system makes it possible now for issuers to receive advance alerts about accounts and cards facing a higher risk of fraud attributed to either involvement or exposure in a data breach earlier on.

This release comes a month after the Equifax hack caused harm to the personal data of over 143 million identities.

Fraudsters are an unfortunately efficient group, according to MasterCard. All they require is just 9 minutes to lay their hands on stolen data posted on the dark web for sale.

MasterCard made it clear that though all information compromised will not be used fraudulently, it is still convinced that early warnings will help issuers to contain their losses whenever their private data gets breached by cybercriminals.

MasterCard frequently sends alerts to banks issuing cards when specific credit and debit cards may have been compromised in a data breach but usually these alerts are without the specific company involved in the security issue.

This new system seeks to leverage network insights, predictive capabilities and a combination of internal and external data sources to determine if a card or account is at risk. As soon as a risk is discovered or detected, the issuer receives an alert detailing the security issues alongside a quantification of the level of risk. The issuer then is at liberty to decide on what step to take next with the potentially compromised card.

The president of enterprise risk and security at MasterCard, Ajay Bhalla, after the launch stated:

“Knowledge is power, and this service helps issuers act significantly faster with greater precision to stop potential fraud before it occurs.”

He continued by saying “Our issuers can now proactively target the fraudulent activity resulting from previously breached or hacked data, helping them reduce costs and maintain the best possible cardholder experience.”

Issuers globally have access to The Early Fraud Detection System. Active criminal trading of account data, identification of cards being tested prior to being used for fraud, and account data that appears at-risk, but without sufficient evidence to declare an Account Data Compromise event are all things that ping this new system.

According to MasterCard, the new system gives issuers as much as a 6 to 18-month jump on any data breach ahead of the traditional methods.

MasterCard earlier this year was embroiled in the Equifax hack which saw the breach of over 140,000,000 Americans’ personal information. MasterCard then afterward sent out a warning to financial institutions across the United States with over 200,000 credit cards were compromised during the famous hack.

KrebsOnSecurity released the news of the private alerts, which suggested that Equifax was breached by hackers earlier in November 2016. The same alert also from MasterCard had the same data range.

“The attacker accessed a storage table that contained historical credit card transaction information,” the company said in a statement to KrebsOnSecurity. “The dates that you provided in your e-mail appear to be the transaction dates. We have found no evidence during our investigation to indicate the presence of card harvesting malware, or access to the table before mid-May 2017.”

Senior vice president of external communications, Seth Eisen, after the hack told FOX Business the company’s policy regarding fraudulent activity hasn’t changed since the hack.

“Any purchase or transaction made with a MasterCard card is protected by our Zero Liability policy. Consumers are not responsible for purchases made with a lost or stolen card. Any concerned consumer should review their account statements and activity. If they suspect fraudulent or unusual transactions, we encourage them to contact the bank that issues their card for assistance and more information,” Eisen said.