As the insurance industry continues to digitize, companies are facing new threats from fraudsters looking to make a profit by stealing insurance benefits or entitlements. Today’s cyber criminals are using stolen/synthetic identities to obtain fraudulent policy applications, take over legitimate accounts to make false claims, or change payee information to receive insurance funds. Online insurance fraud of this kind results in an annual cost of approximately $40 billion, costing the average American family $400-$700 in increased premiums.

This year has seen several large and highly-publicized data breaches affecting millions of consumers who lost credit card information to fraudsters. When a data breach occurs, fraudsters work fast to put the stolen information to nefarious use, while card issuers and consumers begin to take action to protect against further damage.

Today marks the start of National Cyber Security Awareness month, held every October since 2004 in the United States and since 2012 in Europe. The National Cyber Security Alliance sponsors this event along with multiple federal agencies to encourage vigilance and protection by all computer users.   

This blog post is excerpted from a white paper, entitled “Deconstructing the Cyber-Psychology Behind Behavioral Biometrics”. To access the full paper, click here.

The next phase of faster payments in the U.S. has arrived.  Beginning on September 15, same day payments will be available for virtually any ACH transaction.” This is because Same Day ACH is being opened up for debit entries.

BioCatch has been discussing the limitations of two-factor authentication for awhile, not for the purposes of raising alarm bells, but to offer a unique solution on how to provide a clear sense of security throughout an online session where traditional approaches are failing us.