ThreatMetrix ®, the fastest-growing provider of context-based security and advanced fraud prevention solutions, announces its participation in the twelfth annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), themed “Our Shared Responsibility.” In alignment with week one’s theme of Stop.Think.Connect.™ , ThreatMetrix outlines “Five Lessons We’ve Learned in Five Years.” In addition, ThreatMetrix offers strategies for “Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity at Work,” aligning with the week two theme. Coordinated and led by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the Department of Homeland Security, NCSAM has grown exponentially since its inception, reaching consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations, educational institutions and young people across the nation and internationally. To show its support, ThreatMetrix has signed on as a NCSAM “Champion,” which is a way for organizations to officially show support. Champions represent those dedicated to promoting a safer, more secure and more trusted Internet.
The theme of NCSAM’s first week is “Promoting Online Safety with the Stop.Think.Connect.™ Campaign.” The theory behind the campaign is that each individual that participates in online activities needs to take accountability for the safety of the Internet. The Internet touches almost all aspects of everyone’s daily life, whether we realize it or not. Recognizing the importance of cybersecurity to our nation, President Obama designated October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
“These days, online activity drives our everyday lives,” said Reed Taussig, president and CEO, ThreatMetrix, Inc. “We all have an interest and a responsibility to make sure we keep online identities, businesses and services safe and trusted by consumers. National Cyber Security Awareness Month is the perfect opportunity to educate individuals and businesses on the importance of collaborating and global shared intelligence for more secure digital identities. Cybersecurity has evolved tremendously in recent years and looking at its evolution over the past five years gave us a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come in such a short time.”
In alignment to National Cybersecurity Awareness Month’s first week of 5 Years of Stop.Think.Connect.™, ThreatMetrix outlines five lessons the cybersecurity industry has learned in five years.
Fraudsters are getting smarter: Cybersecurity providers constantly develop advanced strategies to fight off fraudsters but at the end of the day, the fraudsters don’t have to change much in their scheme of tactics because due to lack of action by businesses and consumers, they continue to be successful. The threats experienced are still the same to some degree, and we need to educate consumers and have new, collaborative approaches to cybercrime. Fraudsters are getting comfortable: A lot of cybercrime patterns have been evident in the past five years—things that keep happening again and again. The existing tactics fraudsters have gotten used to continue to work enough to make them comfortable. Worldwide, consumers have various phishing attempts, viruses and malware in recent years and those are still happening and growing in sophistication every day.
Digital identities pose widespread threats: “Digital identities” consist of all aspects that make up our online personas—from email addresses to credit card numbers. Fraudsters either replay stolen identities using proxies, device, and location spoofing to cloak the true digital Identity or piggy-back a user’s session with malware attacks, which have grown in recent years. The ThreatMetrix Digital Identity Network and its real-time policy engine provide unique insight into legitimate end customers’ digital identities, even as they move between applications, devices and networks.
Data Breaches increase in number: The significant data breaches we saw in 2014 and 2015 – Home Depot and Ashley Madison , to name a few – were disastrous enough for consumers and businesses alike—so, what have we learned? Enterprises store too much information in key aspects of their businesses and do not take advantage of global shared intelligence and real-time fraud analytics.
Recognition is key: Recognition is key to ensuring trusted users are not impacted in the fight against fraudsters – ensuring customers’ digital identities are intact is the breaking point of retaining trusted users while still detecting fraud attempts. To that end, shared global intelligence is a critical tool to fight crime without inconveniencing customers – mobile devices are becoming the most important mix in the shared global intelligence problem. In the latest ThreatMetrix Cybercrime Report, mobile device usage was found to comprise 31 percent of all transactions analyzed. In the end, it’s not about how much you know, it’s about how much you can do with what you know.
“At ThreatMetrix, we aim to solve the dilemma of encouraging information sharing when many businesses are reluctant to do so,” said Taussig. “Realizing that in five years we’ve accumulated a wealth of information regarding our digital identities and their connectedness to the outside world is shocking, and we hope that consumers and businesses alike understand the implications their digital debris can have as it scatters across the Internet.”
In accordance with week two’s theme of Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity at Work,” during NCSAM, the ThreatMetrix Digital Identity Network outlines several ways corporations can create a safe, secure culture at work. First, realize that cybercriminals don’t just target one particular organization in planning an attack, but a lot at the same time. Second, take advantage of global information sharing and to ensure that all digital personas and identities are valid rather than suspicious. Finally, remote access is a big threat to employers and employees alike – contract employees accessing internal servers can open the door for fraudsters to compromise sensitive information across channels. Employers must have a globalized – as opposed to localized – approach and need a digital identity network to share information globally.
In addition to the overall theme of “cybersecurity is a shared responsibility,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has outlined weekly themes to commemorate National Cyber Security Awareness Month throughout October. These themes include:
Week One – Promoting Online Safety with the Stop. Think. Connect.™ Campaign Week Two – Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity at Work Week Three – Connected Communities: Staying Protected While Always Connected Week Four – Your Evolving Digital Life Week Five – Building the Next Generation of Cyber Professionals
ThreatMetrix Resources
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For more information about National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the NCSAM Champions program, and how to participate in NCSAM activities, visit http://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam . You can also follow and use the hashtag #cyberaware on Twitter throughout the month.
About ThreatMetrix
ThreatMetrix offers market-leading advanced fraud prevention and frictionless context-based security solutions leveraging a global shared digital identity network and real-time, customer-driven analytics platform. These solutions help customers differentiate between trusted users and potential fraud resulting in reduced friction, incremental revenue and lower fraud and operational costs.
ThreatMetrix secures customers against account takeover, payment fraud, fraudulent account registrations resulting from malware, and data breaches. Underpinning the solution is the ThreatMetrix Digital Identity Network, which analyzes billions of transactions and protects hundreds of millions of active user accounts across tens of thousands of websites and mobile applications. The ThreatMetrix solution is deployed across a variety of industries, including financial services, enterprise, e-commerce, payments, social networks, government and insurance.
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