Mastercard Wants to Help Issuers Fight Card Fraud Faster after Data Breaches
Shutterstock/Dirk Ercken
On the heels of Equifax’s massive data breach that compromised 143 million identities, Mastercard today (Oct. 2) announced the launch of Early Detection System, which alerts banks to high-risk cards and accounts that are exposed in security incidents or data breaches.
It can take as little as 9 minutes for stolen card and account data to be used via the dark web, according to Federal Trade Commission research. Mastercard says it developed Early Detection System to help banks take action faster, and pre-empt more serious attacks.
Using its network insights, predictive capabilities and a combination of internal and external data sources, Early Detection System determines if a card or account is at risk and sends an alert to the relevant bank, quantifying the level of risk. The bank then uses the risk level to determine its next steps—from monitoring transactions more closely to issuing a replacement card.
“Knowledge is power, and this service helps banks act significantly faster and with greater precision to stop potential fraud before it occurs,” says Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security at Mastercard. “Our card issuers can now proactively target the fraudulent activity resulting from previously breached or hacked data, helping them reduce costs and maintain the best possible cardholder experience.”
Early Detection System is available to issuers globally and captures all types of fraud across all transaction channels, according to Mastercard.
The system identifies everything from active criminal trading of account data, to identification of cards being tested prior to being used for fraud, to account data that appears at-risk but without sufficient evidence to declare an Account Data Compromise event. This provides issuers with alerts on a much broader set of at-risk accounts at least six to 18 months ahead of traditional alerts, Mastercard says.
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