Companies have their eyes set on delivering marketing-leading digital experiences, but one major obstacle remains in the way — authentication.

Digital transformation has taken its hold in payments, banking, commerce, and beyond. But both the rapid transformation of processes and the rate of consumer adoption present significant challenges for businesses. One of the biggest questions of our day is how do you verify customer identity in a way that prevents cybercrime without disrupting the user journey?

Voice phishing, also known as vishing, has been around for years. But cybercriminals have taken phone-based scams to a new level of sophistication — and it’s paying off.

By impersonating trusted officials, like customer service representatives at a bank, social engineers con unsuspecting victims out of millions of dollars every year. Vishing is surprisingly easy to fall for, catching even the most careful individuals off-guard. Well-crafted schemes carry all the signs of legitimacy, right down to the correct phone number of a victim’s personal bank.

Like any organization in the midst of digital transformation, corporate treasury departments are seeing a rise in cybercrime, including payment fraud, social engineering, and account takeover attacks.

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of year for cybercriminals. This year, holiday season cyberattacks are on pace to increase by nearly 60%. And though Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, consumers and businesses need to remain alert. In 2017, the highest spike in fraud took place after Christmas, as cyber criminals continued to target shoppers pursuing post-holiday deals.

Heading into the new year, everything from your washing machine to your mobile banking app will be a potential source of fraud risk. It’s the challenge of living and doing business in the age of digital transformation. As our day-to-day lives becomes more convenient through all that technology has to offer, fraud becomes simpler for cyber criminals.