Page 10 - Cyber Defense eMagazine - May 2018

SYNTHETIC IDENTITY FRAUD AND SOCIAL ENGINEERING

ARE GROWING CONCERNS AND ON THE RISE

by Christina Luttrell

With customer not present identity fraud becoming an increasingly prevalent issue,
major shifts in the fraud landscape have had far-reaching effects across multiple
industries. Businesses are feeling the pressure to successfully fight fraud by employing
greater preventative measures, while at the same time maintaining a positive
experience for customers.

For the past five years, the team at IDology has surveyed fraud and cybersecurity
professionals across a variety of industries, enabling us to provide useful insights and
report on current fraud trends. This year, our research validated a sharp rise in
companies reporting an increase in fraud—a 58 percent jump over 2016, some of which
can be explained by the substantial amount of high-profile breaches that have flooded
the dark web with the personal identity information of millions of Americans.

This may also be attributed to the swiftly growing number of synthetic identity fraud
cases, which was ranked highest by respondents as the category of fraud that their
industry is least prepared for. We also discovered an increase in customer-not-present
fraud, caused by the ripple effect of EMV chip adoption, which continues to push thieves
to shift their focus and fraudulent activity online and away from physical point of sale
retail locations.

And notably as fraudulent activity is increasing, so is the need to reduce friction in
customer interactions, especially onboarding new customers. Nearly half of the
companies we surveyed listed a seamless, effortless user experience as a top priority
and key competitive differentiator in today’s marketplace.

10 Cyber Defense eMagazine – May 2018 Edition
Copyright © 2018, Cyber Defense Magazine, All rights reserved worldwide.