Fraud: Everything Old Is New Again Tough Times Bring out Tried & True Tricks from Fraudsters
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Fraud: Everything Old is New Again Tough Times Bring out Tried & True Tricks from Fraudsters I once heard a line on – of all places – sports talk radio, and it’s stuck with me through the years, especially during the past one. “Tough times don’t build character, they reveal it.” Well, there’s no question the past year has brought tough times to all Tom Field of us, and as for some of the fraudulent characters they’ve revealed? Editorial Director Whew! It seems like every tried-and-true fraud scheme is back these days with a vengeance, as criminals renew their efforts to deprive us of our financial and informational assets. The only difference: In- stead of focusing on only one fraud channel, criminals today tend to be attempting multiple entry points simultaneously. Everything old is new again, and it’s coming at you all at once! I trust you’ll enjoy the articles, interviews and opinion pieces we’ve collected here, and I welcome hearing from you after you’ve soaked in some of this information. What are the fraud schemes you’re seeing most this year? How are you educating your customers to avoid them? Where have you had success thwarting the fraudsters? The tough times will get better. Fraud, alas, won’t go away. We just have to make sure that we – like the criminals – get smarter, organized and educated. It’s going to be a long fight, but we can win it. Best, Tom Field Editorial Director, Information Security Media Group [email protected] Volume 1, Issue 5 IN THIS ISSUE... June 2009 Articles Interviews with streaming audio player embedded 2 10 Faces of Fraud directly into the page. 10 2009 Identity Fraud Report James Van Dyke of Javelin Strategy & Research discusses the results. What does next year hold for fraud against 22 Phishing: How to financial institutions? Here are 10 of the new Help Protect Your and old ways criminals will be looking to Customers commit fraud in 2009. Dave Jevans, chair of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, discusses the state of 18 The Insider Threat: 16 Tips phishing against banking institutions. to Protect Critical Data Blogs 9 At the Heart of the Data Breach(es) The Field Report with Tom Field Is 2009 the Year of the Insider Threat? 32 Top Internet Scams 28 Top Trends in ACH Fraud for You and Your What you need to know about payroll Customers to Avoid fraud, ACH kiting and solutions to fight these threats. The Agency Insider with Linda McGlasson 1 What does next year hold for fraud against financial institutions? Here are 10 of the new and old ways criminals will be looking to commit fraud in 2009. Copyright © Information Security Media Group, Corp. 2 By Linda McGlasson 1. ATM Network Fraud According to Paul Kocher, president and chief scientist of Cryptography Research Institute, the number one area that institutions will see fraud growing over the next year is in ATM networks. “When the criminal gets access to mag- netic stripe data and associated PIN values, they are then able to create cards, and basically then it’s a license to print money,” Kocher explains. Another problem for institutions is that their ability to perform risk management is signifi- cantly less on an ATM network than online transactions. “This is because the ATM delivers the goods to the con- sumer immediately, which is exactly what the fraudsters ChoicePoint and others to build their attacks.” One infor- want -- the cash, rather than a large ticket item they have mation security researcher told Rothman that organiza- to then fence or resell,” he concludes. tions like the Russian Business Network, RBN, have built demographic databases “that rival some of the biggest and Kocher predicts that until U.S. financial institutions and most significant demographic databases in the financial credit card companies roll out either a contact or contact- services industry that are used here in the States legally.” less-based smart card infrastructure, there won’t be a great reduction in the amount of fraud being perpetrated against The criminal groups like RBN are compiling huge amounts U.S. consumers. “Once they decide to do this, it will cause of data in order for consumers to share account informa- a great reduction in the amount of fraud, because we’ve tion with them. This allows them to entice those custom- seen it happen in Europe,” says Kocher. ers to “give up the goods” by divulging enough informa- 2. Check Fraud The area of check fraud is also becoming continuously more sophisticated, and the underlying technological systems haven’t kept pace with the sophistication of the adversaries, says CRI’s Kocher. “Initially there will be more pain and losses on the part of institutions, and then more technological changes on their part to try and catch up to the criminals’ ability to perpetrate check fraud,” he observes. There won’t be a solution for paper-based check fraud, Kocher says, until we have a technological development where the check itself can be authenticated via a chip or code. There are actions that could be taken, such as printing a code on the back of the check tion so they feel comfortable with the scam. The victims that the bank can verify, like a credit card, “Eventually include small businesses, which Rothman sees as the next we’ll end up with something similar to that, but the ques- crime front. tion is how long will it continue to grow until it becomes financially painful enough for banks to implement this?” “Most small business owners are not sophisticated enough Kocher asks. or wary to emails that would offer services,” Rothman notes. Especially in the tough economic times facing all business, he sees there will be a marked increase of fraud 3. ‘Laser-Guided’ Precision Strikes targeting the small businesses. “We’re always going to see The organization and sophistication of criminals is in- criminals targeting consumers. The small businesses that creasing, and so is the sophistication of their attacks. Mike are already being pushed to the wall in these hard eco- Rothman, senior vice president of security strategy at eIQ- nomic times won’t realize they’ve fallen prey to a slick networks, sees a “laser-guided” approach to targeting pre- targeted attack until it’s too late, and there is a lot of fer- cision attacks on institutions’ customers as the next step tile ground out there that could be attacked.” One example that these criminals will take. “They will use data already Rothman says could be the offer of online applications for collected from previous attacks on companies, including small business loans, or credit lines. In many cases, these continued on page 6... Copyright © Information Security Media Group, Corp. 4 FULL PAGE AD continued on page 6... attacks could be launched under a generic social engineer- as part of their online banking services to their custom- ing attack. Proactively, financial institutions can continue ers. The customer can go online to see what checks have to train employees and offer information to customers cleared, Eisen notes. “So what is on those checks? The making them aware of these types of attacks. victim’s bank account number, signature, address, phone,” says Eisen. It’s a treasure for most criminals. They can either take the copy and make paper counterfeit checks 4. Phishing Attacks To Continue to distribute, or take that information and create PayPal In 2008, the financial services industry has seen an in- accounts or other online payment accounts that will leave crease in the numbers of phishing attacks that are ex- the victim on the hook for any purchases. pected to continue through 2009, including sophisticated spear phishing and Rock Phish attacks. The Anti-Phishing Eisen says check image fraud is hitting the top financial Working Group reports that the financial services sector institutions around the world to the “tune of millions of remains the most targeted sector being attacked, with an dollars per month. The amount they’re being hit with average of more than 90 percent of attacks being directed is significant,” he says. Banks are on the hook for these at financial services. losses, especially with the proliferation of Trojans, key- loggers and other malware, that find their way onto cus- According to Terry Gudaitis, PhD, Cyber Intelligence Di- tomers’ computers, banks can’t hide behind the statement rector at Cyveillance, a cyber intelligence firm specializ- that the customer didn’t protect their account information. ing in phishing takedown and monitoring services, she and As more institutions begin losing money to check image others see as a growing threat area for phishing attacks is fraud, they’ll need to look to find ways to mask the check “Smishing” or SMS phishing. “Phishers are now sending images online, especially with the increased phishing that their phishing messages over cell phones via text messag- is occurring, Eisen warns. es. This will cause confusion among online banking users, especially those using mobile banking services,” she says. “The typical banking customer will think, ‘My bank won’t 6. Zero Day Attacks email me, but they’re sending me a text message asking Another area that financial institutions will need to keep me to click on this link or call a number to verify,’” Gu- an eagle eye on is the shift in the way financial fraud is daitis says. While the SMS attack vector is different, the happening. CRI’s Kocher sees the attacks will change object of the phisher is the same. This type of attack will from criminals trying one thing and increasing their at- pose credibility issues and will impact banks with mobile tacks against a particular vulnerability or fraud strategy, banking services, especially as the more reliant customers to where it becomes similar to hackers attacking computer will become more trusting of their mobile phone.” vulnerabilities, where the smartest adversaries will iden- tify a problem, but try to keep what they learn really secret and then attack the target in a very sudden and catastroph- 5.