High alert warning for e-commerce Cyber-security

ThreatMetrix says that online security must be prioritized over the holiday season to match an increase in fraudulent activity.

Reports through-out the year have indicated that although some improvement in offline fraud has been achieved, the figures in the online space are not moving in the right direction. And nothing seems to be changing, according to ThreatMetrix’s observations over the last six months which report doubled attempts of account takeover and payment fraud, making e-merchants prime targets for crime with a predicted risk increase in the upcoming holiday rush.

According to ThreatMetrix, there are preventative measures to be taken and all e-commerce merchants should be taking them. Its recommendations include:

*Apply new, added verification tools to those that are already in place, such as Verified by Visa, in order to buffer the screening of individual transactions which is often difficult to do during high season when payment activity is greater than usual. Remember that you want to avoid the inconveniencing of innocent customers.

According to the second report on card fraud released by the European Central Bank in July 2013, card screening mechanisms has improved CNP fraud, for example in the UK where a one-third reduction is evident since 2007.

*Be aware of certain account takeover indicators such as users entering their accounts from different devices or editing their accounts.

*Create a list of customers with positive scores (from past transactions) in order to avoid IP address risks but without disturbing the transactions of existing customers who may be making purchases from different locations.

*Use collective data from global intelligence networks to make sure that, already flagged fraudsters are on your radar and that once again, legitimate consumers are not identified unnecessarily

According to Dr. Stephen Topliss, at ThreatMetrix. “A collective approach to Cybersecurity enables e-commerce merchants and customers to have an all-around jolly holiday shopping experience.”

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