The financial services industry are prime targets according to research revealing 130 million fraud attacks detected in just a 90-day period with the growth in attacks outpacing transaction growth by 50%.

San Jose, Calif. based digital identity firm's ThreatMetrix's Q1 Cybercrime Report, based on actual detected cybercrime attacks from January-March 2017, showed heightened risk levels attributed to significant growth in cybercriminal activity from emerging markets. Data revealed 50% more cybercrime attacks originating from all of Europe than U.S., the single most attacked nation, and increasing cyberattacks from South America.

"We saw a number of high-profile global breaches over the last year. Identities are being bought, sold, traded and augmented by criminals seeking to improve the success of their increasingly complex attacks," Vanita Pandey, vice president of product marketing at ThreatMetrix, said "All of this points to one thing: Identities are the critical currency in cybercrime this year and it is up to businesses to look beyond static data to check that users are who they say they are."