Why security strategies must adapt to the retail banking revolution
As banks develop new retail styles, they face new security challenges as the changing use of space in-store means surveillance and alarm systems must evolve in tandem.
Financial Crime & Fraud
Money laundering: rapid development is creating new risks
The internet has opened the door to purchase almost anything from any part of the world through electronic payments. As globalisation continues to flourish – especially in the banking industry – it’s now possible to transfer money across different countries with ease and speed. While this has increased the opportunity for businesses to extend their reach globally, it also creates an appealing opportunity for criminals.
… and financial warfare is unleashed
The threat of banks de-risking and exiting regions and businesses in fear of sanctions-related fines is upon us, said Juan Zarate, the ex-deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism to US President George W Bush. Zarate was speaking at a Standard Chartered session yesterday morning about his new book, Treasury Wars: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare.
‘Pernicious disease’ of cyber war escalates
While the average bank heist averages $6000, a cyber-thief can make off with millions. Last year 552 million identities were breached, while every call about a compromised credit card costs a bank $4.
Money laundering moving to RMB as US cracks down
Money launderers will increasingly move away from the US dollar to the renminbi as US authorities continue to crack down on international banks’ AML systems. The shift will have consequences for London’s aspirations to become a global centre for RMB clearing and settlement.
Moral hazard: the ghost of bail-outs past
The bailout of Espirito Santo Bank brings back unwelcome memories of the events of the last financial crisis and raises the spectre of moral hazard returning to the financial services industry both in the UK and abroad. But how far have we really come since those dark days of 2008 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers and how far do we still have to go? A quick look at recent events gives us a good indication.
Financial institutions and Cybercrime: It’s only just begun
A recent bout of high profile cyber-attacks on financial institutions across the UK, US and Canada has put the spotlight back on the importance of data security and the need to be diligent when it comes to cybersecurity within the banking industry
Banks’ cyber resilience requires ongoing review against escalating threats
The news last month (June) that the Luuuk malware had snared its first victim, an unnamed European bank, has again highlighted the magnitude of the challenge facing the banking sector. While the reported theft of €500,000 during the course of a week certainly does not break any records, the discovery of what is believed to be a variant of the feared Zeus malware, is just the latest in a line of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks
Banks must educate consumers about fraud says Aite
Banks need to do more to educate consumers about the ways in which they may be exposing themselves to fraud risks, according to a new report by Aite Group using data from ACI Worldwide, which notes that one in four consumers has been victimised by card fraud in the past five years.
Market manipulation detection firm offers “Pepsi Challenge” with new system
One company grateful for the flurry of publicity given to the practice of front-running orders by the publication of Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys earlier this year is New York-based Trillium, whose Surveyor market manipulation detection tool can be used to detect the practice.
Financial services in the firing line for cyber-attacks says ex-CIA chief
“The fastest growing national security threat facing the [US], which also happens to face the financial services industry, is cyber-espionage, cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism” according to a former deputy and acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency, speaking at the SifmaTech conference in New York.
Waratek wraps vulnerable Java code in security blanket
Specialist Java start-up Waratek has announced a security product intended to protect older Java code – which can contain five to 10 security vulnerabilities per 10,000 lines of code – from security breaches.
Tokenisation may offer antidote to soaring cyber crime epidemic
As the number of cybercrime incidents increases, financial institutions and their corporate customers should take renewed steps to protect their data – including using tokenisation and hosted payments pages, according to a new report by Chase Paymentech.
Cyber criminals target “vulnerable” applications
Security breaches at major institutions in financial services, healthcare and other industries are going undetected for months at a time and are often caused by basic errors of security, such as weak passwords, vulnerable applications and a lack of interest in security, according to a new report by cybercrime specialist company Trustwave.
Survey: KYC action plans 2014
Looked at from a data perspective, many new regulations have overlapping requirements that come back to customer data. Banking Technology joined forces with Markit І Genpact KYC Services and regulatory specialist JWG to look at how firms are approaching the challenges this poses.
Account misuse drives rise in UK fraud levels
Bank account fraud in the UK increased 48% in the first four months of this year, with a 57% rise in the number of identity frauds compared to the same period last year.
Corporates taking too much payment risk warns SunGard
Four out of five organisations are leaving themselves open to payment fraud because of a lack of standardised payment workflows, according to a study by financial technology vendor SunGard.
Breaking bit
Bitcoin is the poster child of the cryptocurrency world, but it’s not alone. Michael Mainelli and Bob McDowell take a look at the real-world implications of the rise of AltCoins
Why Yahoo’s malware attack is hitting banks hard
At the end of last year, Yahoo was hit by a malware attack. It affected over two million clients, mainly in Romania, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain, putting their personal data at risk. Upon visiting the website between 27 December and 3 January, users received advertisements, some of which were malicious and infected users’ devices without even a click.
Banks back Swift KYC Registry initiative
A group of major international banks have agreed to jointly develop and use the centralised Know Your Customer Registry announced by Swift at the start of the year.
Swift boosts collaboration push with Financial Crime Compliance unit
Swift has created a dedicated Financial Compliance Services unit to manage a growing number of service offerings. The new unit will focus initially on the development of a Know Your Customer Registry planned for launch later this year as well as the integration and development of existing services.
2014: a good year for the fraudsters
2014 looks to be a good year for fraudsters as government and law enforcement struggle to come to terms with the issues and the continuing spread of mobile continues to offer them poorly-protected targets.
Bitcoin boom prompts banking dilemma
Bitcoin is more traceable but less regulated, less expensive but more volatile, and more decentralised but less accountable, than a regular currency. Feeling confused? That’s not the half of it, according to Ernst & Young.
Locks on the door “aren’t enough” to fight financial crime says Fiserv
Financial crime specialist Fiserv has just launched its Financial Crime Risk Management platform, which aims to help financial institutions to ward off financial crime and slash their risk.
Cyberspace: beyond the rule of law?
Cybersecurity and cyber espionage have been in the headlines the past few years as leaked stories relating to government-sponsored activities have appeared and sabre rattling between aggrieved nations has moved to the public domain. At the same time an increased volume of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) on banks and other institutions carried out […]
Lack of EMV means US leads the world in card fraud
The US leads the world in card fraud, at least in part because it has lagged in the adoption of the EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) Chip & PIN standard, and continues to use signatures for verification. One result, said Carolyn Balfany, group head for US product delivery at MasterCard Worldwide, during Money2020 in Las […]
EMV – driving the global eradication of card fraud
Authentication, risk management, transaction integrity and cardholder verification, are the four features that define the EMV standard, specified by EMVCo, the organisation that manages the EMV standards and associated compliance processes. These are designed to protect merchants, acquirers and cardholders from fraudulent transactions. However, closing the loop on fraud altogether will be almost impossible without […]
MPs call on banks to report electronic crime direct to police
Banks should report all cases of fraud to law enforcement agencies and punishments should be substantially increased, according to a committee of MPs.
Nationwide installs NCR anti-fraud tools on its ATMs
Nationwide Building Society has brought in a new tool from ATM maker NCR designed to protect its customers against card-skimming, a type of fraud in which criminals steal customer data from ATMs.
Cards top target list for fraudsters
Credit and store cards have returned to the top of the list of fraud targets, with a 28% increase in the first four months of the year – at a time when overall fraud levels fell by 16.5%.
Print is not dead – it’s just turned baaaad
As a rule of thumb, the fastest adopters of new technology are pornographers and criminals (two sets that often overlap). So it should come as no surprise that the latest thing to worry security specialists is 3-D printing. You’ll have seen the stories in the papers about how you can create real working guns with […]
Indonesian bank BCA adopts Nice Actimize AML tools
Indonesian bank PT Bank Central Asia Tbk has adopted an anti-money laundering toolkit from specialist security firm Nice Actimize, to help the bank monitor for suspicious market activity and ensure regulatory compliance.
Experian sets out anti-fraud tools
Information company Experian has improved its Hunter anti-fraud software to help banks and other financial services firms keep track of fraud.
Inside Eurograbber: the £30m mobile banking heist
In the history of bank robberies, the £30 million stolen by the Eurograbber attack in 2012 ranks as one of the all-time biggest, globally. And when you consider that this sum was stolen from more than 30,000 accounts across 30 banks in four European countries, using malware that affected both PCs and bank customers’ mobile […]
Mobile malware headache looms for security managers
A 400% increase in malware for mobile devices masks a security scene where many of the threats are much as they have been for several years – but where the volume of attacks means that firms should think in terms of when they will be attacked rather than if they will be.
The Return of the Old-Fashioned Villain
The latest bi-annual Fraud Barometer from KPMG has shown a rise in individuals committing more traditional swindles such as Ponzi schemes, cheque fraud and procurement fraud. The findings are in broad agreement with figures from CIFAS, the UK fraud monitoring service, published last week
Financial crime: compliance and failure
Banks worldwide have been struggling in the battle against financial crime. Recent high-profile examples demonstrate that the rate of anti-money laundering compliance enforcement is continuing to rise.
ID theft drives fraud to new levels in UK
Identity theft soared during 2012, accounting for half of all financial fraud in the UK. This drove the level of account takeover frauds up by 53% during the year, according to CIFAS, the UK Fraud Prevention Service.
Internet fraud: follow the money
While the internet has provided inumerable benefits, it has also been the field for new types of fraud and rights infringements. If the financing used by people who illegally upload or otherwise exploit content were cut off, might it be possible to combat the spread of their activities?
