ARLINGTON, Va. — International fraudsters are increasingly taking financial institution websites hostage, demanding bitcoin payments before they will release the hacked site, Visa Vice President of Payment Systerm Cyber Intelligence Penny Lane said.
So-called ransomware vaulted into the top ranks of the most preferred malware by cybercriminals, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based security firm Proofpoint recently reported.
Those and other large-scale hackers targeting financial institutions can be divided into three categories, she told those attending the PSCU-sponsored Focus on Fraud Perspectives Thought Leadership event, which took place at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View.
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Organized cybercriminals generally come from the former Soviet bloc nations, she said. Hacktivists present a social, religious or political agenda, while nation states operatives are attempting to steal intellectual property and other information.
Unfortunately, most financial institutions – including credit unions – do not have a detailed cybercrime program.
"The only time you're going to find [out] is when the FBI comes knocking on your door," she said. She added that is a problem since the key is to identify the data breach before the fraud occurs.
In the case of a retailer whose systems have been breached, it can take up to two months to discover the problem – or until consumers begin receiving their monthly statements.
And that causes added problems, according to Lane.
"The older the data is, the more difficult it is to track it," she said.
However, merchants can go overboard in attempting to avoid fraud, according to Steven Craig, a managed fraud analyst with CyberSource Global Services, an IT consulting firm. Businesses that send 100% of their sales through fraud prevention protocols can end up with upset customers whose deliveries are delayed. Those customers are likely to take their business to a competitor.
As the percentage of cards that use chip-on-chip technology continues to grow, the percentage of fraud that relies of card not present sales will rise, according to Robin Barfield, director of managed fraud services with CyberSource Global Services. That type of fraud is easy for criminals, she said.
"They really are lazy," Barfield said. "They want to commit the fraud as easily as possible."
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