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Computer Networks
-Wider Area Network-WAN
Using SD-WAN to address the business needs of financial services organizations
With branch offices spread across city, state, and even country borders, financial services organizations have long grappled with the challenge of providing robust, secure, and cost-effective connectivity to remote locations. The pandemic-driven rise of working from home, however, has increased these challenges exponentially by expanding the number of remote offices needing to be connected to the corporate network.
This has led to increased bandwidth requirements and more applications moving to the cloud. And as a result, traditional MPLS connections have proven to be ineffective. Not only are they costly for distributed organizations that continue to grow, but these connections also inhibit – and sometimes, prohibit – visibility, security, and performance as new locations proliferate.
Supporting Evolving Business Requirements with SD-WAN
With the ongoing restrictions and shutdowns occurring around the globe, certain business applications have grown in importance for financial services organizations trying to maintain business continuity. One such organization, with more than 500 employees and branches across the Middle East and Africa, discovered that the single MPLS and internet link they had in place at each location was significantly hindering their business-critical voice and video applications. A connectivity issue like this could have negative impacts on both employee collaboration as well as customer interactions.
This organization also needed to provide reliable and secure access to the corporate network from all of its locations. The search began for an SD-WAN solution that would provide application steering with service-level agreement (SLA) performance, while supporting multiple WAN connections from a number of remote offices. On top of this, the company also sought a feature-rich SD-WAN solution that could support their evolving business needs well into the future.
Examining secure SD-WAN as an option
Underpinning the company’s search for the right solution was the ongoing pressure to contain and reduce costs across their IT environment (as with almost all financial services organizations.) And while protecting the organization’s extremely sensitive data was a top priority for both business and compliance reasons, security couldn’t come at the expense of network performance.
After evaluating several solutions, they determined that a security-driven networking approach to SD-WAN offered more bang for the buck, providing the tools the company needed in a way that would allow them to simultaneously control costs and optimize operational efficiency. It combined both networking and security within a single solution to provide high-speed application and performance as well as built-in next-generation firewall functionality.
A secure SD-WAN solution also provided the company with simplified manageability and scalability, a fact that was especially important as new offices began to open in the future.
Experiencing the benefits of secure SD-WAN
Having the right secure SD-WAN in place delivers the combined benefits of WAN optimization, traffic shaping, automation, next-generation firewall, and more. Since implementing their chosen solution, the company has improved their operations with:
- Centralized management and reporting: The company has been able to easily and quickly deploy secure SD-WAN at their remote branch locations, reducing the need for additional IT staff. Improved visibility and control across the entire network infrastructure have also been also gained.
- Intelligent application steering: Their new secure SD-WAN solution is also able to intelligently identify applications to determine the most optimal path to be taken in order to deliver and enhanced application experience – even during brown out or black out conditions.
- Integrated Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) functionality: Integrated NGFW functionality, including deep SSL inspection capabilities, was a critical requirement for the company. Their chosen secure SD-WAN solution was able to deliver this processor-intensive service without compromising on performance.
Seeking the Right Solution
As financial services organizations add more branch offices and remote workers, and increasingly embrace cloud applications and infrastructure, they need secure connectivity solutions that can enable fast, secure, and compliant access to the core network and cloud-based applications. SD-WAN is increasingly seen as the solution for addressing these needs, but it’s important to understand that not all SD-WAN solutions are the same, especially where security is concerned. When seeking out the right solution for your organization, it’s important to evaluate the full range of specific requirements, including those that will not only support present needs, but enable the requirements of the future.
Why the world needs PIN
Technology is a great enabler. It brings enormous possibilities in customer experience and product innovation, but it also brings new levels of sophistication in the activities of fraudsters. In the payments landscape, the need to ensure the security of transactions to protect consumers and merchants is as critical as ever.
Imagine then, a world where consumers and merchants not only have familiar and reliable payment transactions, but also feel confident that these transactions are completely secure. A world where one simple code can seamlessly enable payments across all chananels within a frictionless, integrated and safe customer experience.
Don’t just imagine, that day is today and it’s all thanks to PIN.
PIN is the most universally recognised, device ubiquitous and personally familiar method of authentication. When it was first introduced in the UK in 2004, losses due to the fraudulent use of credit and debit cards fell by 13% in the first year, the use of cloned or skimmed cards dropped by 25% and the use of lost or stolen cards fell by 22%. And this trajectory has continued ever since.
The combination of PIN’s vast security and brilliantly simple customer experience, which merely required consumers to enter a four-digit number into a terminal at the point of sale rather than relying on signatures or biometrics (that can be forged) quickly became widespread across the globe. But there are still countries such as the US that rely on signatures with card payments and continue to report high levels of payment fraud. For example, in late 2019 nearly eight-in-ten US merchants (77%) reported that they had experienced some type of fraud, and that their efforts to manage security had impacted their businesses’ bottom lines.
Familiarity is key
For the best part of two decades, PIN has been embedded into the UK and Europe’s psyche as a safe and secure way to pay. It is not only very familiar to consumers, entering a PIN has also become a habitual behaviour.
The world is changing. Accelerated by COVID-19, cash usage is down by half yet a large number of people in the UK still have never made a payment or banking transaction online. With options for shopping currently more limited and an increasing need to minimise time in public spaces, these people are now starting to go online to buy what they need. But this in itself brings new challenges; with less experienced people shopping through digital channels there has been a 50% rise in online fraud since January 2020. A challenge that always existed but has been exacerbated by COVID.
PIN complements contactless payments
Contactless, a newer payment option has been elevated to the forefront of consumer protection because it enables payment without physically needing to touch the terminal. However, contactless payments have traditionally only been available for small sums, with PIN mandated by the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirement of the EU Revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) for larger transaction amounts and every fifth contactless transaction.
SCA went into effect on 14 September 2019 and will be fully enforced by 31 December 2020. It requires authentication to use at least two of the following three elements – password/PIN, phone/card, or fingerprint/face recognition. Of all these options, PIN is considered the most secure because the transaction cannot be completed without it, and is only known to the cardholder.
The world’s payments will remain safe and secure with PIN
So, if we reflect on the demographic of consumers who are new to ecommerce, and indeed the needs of all consumers coupled with SCA requirements, the simplest and most secure way to transact online is in fact the tried and proven PIN.
People are familiar with PIN. It is universally trusted and proven as the most secure method of authentication globally.
MYPINPAD is focused on creating a high level of security, continuity and seamlessness for payments across the physical and online worlds. With the goal of democratizing payment acceptance and opening up unparalleled possibilities in customer experience innovation, PIN is a versatile enabler of these. Ultimately, MYPINPAD’s leading-edge technology provides more secure digital payment experiences for merchants and consumers worldwide.
IDnow: Putting a new face on identity verification
So why has IDnow seen such increased demand for its identification products?
While technology is – on the whole – changing the way people do business for the better, it nevertheless carries with it a certain degree of risk to security. In the current climate in particular, with an accelerated move towards buying and selling online, identity fraud is on the rise. In fact, our research estimates this type of fraud has doubled in the last year alone. And, while banking and financial services may be the lowest hanging fruit in terms of targets for attempted identity fraud, the threat is certainly not restricted to this sector.
The problem is the cost to the economy. In June this year, Action Fraud announced that over ￡6.2m has reportedly been lost in the UK due to coronavirus-related scams, making cyber fraud one of the biggest threats in our economy and the fastest growing crime.
So we have seen an enormous uptick in enquiries about AutoIdent and VideoIdent because of their combined human and machine approach. Any identity verification check that doesn’t look 100% accurate gets automatically passed through to a human for extra security, all on the same platform, in a matter of minutes.
What are the most common fraud methods?
Of all fraud methods, social engineering is the biggest issue for companies. It has become the most common fraud method in 2019, accounting for 73% of all attempted attacks. It lures unsuspecting users into providing or using their confidential data and is increasingly popular with fraudsters, being efficient and difficult to recognize.
Fraudsters trick innocent people into registering for a service using their own valid ID. The account they open is then overtaken by the fraudster and used to generate value by withdrawing money or making online transfers.
They mainly look for their victims on online portals where people search for jobs, buy and sell things, or connect with other people. In most of the cases, the fraudsters use fake job ads, app testing offers, cheap loan offers, or fake IT support to lure their victims. People are even contacted on channels like eBay Classifieds, job search engines and Facebook.
Fraudsters are also creating sophisticated architecture to boost the credibility of these cover stories which includes fake corporate email addresses and fake websites.
In addition, we are seeing more applicants being coached, either by messenger or video call, on what to say during the identity process. Specifically, they are instructed to say that they were not prompted to open the account by a third party but are doing so by choice.
Is social engineering the only type of identity fraud?
No! There is also false identity fraud. Our research indicates fake IDs are available on the dark web for as little as ￡40 and some of them are so realistic – including the use of holograms – they can often fool human passport agents. The most commonly faked documents are national ID cards, followed by passports in second place. Other documents include residence permits and driving licenses.
Similarity fraud is another method of identity fraud in use, although it’s not as common thanks to the development of easier and more efficient ways (like social engineering). This method involves the use of a genuine, stolen, government-issued ID that belongs to a person with similar facial features.
Can anything be done about this?
Biometric security i s extremely effective at fighting this kind of fraud. It can check and detect holograms and other features like optical variable inks just by moving the ID in front of the camera. Machine learning algorithms can also be used for dynamic visual detection.
To fight similarity fraud, biometric checks and liveness checks used together are very effective – and they are much more precise and accurate than a human could ever be without the help of state-of-the-art security technology.
The biometric checks scan all the characteristics in the customer’s face and compares it to the picture on their ID card or passport. If the technology confirms all of the important features in both pictures, it hands over to the liveness check. This is a liveness detection program to verify the customer’s presence. It builds a 3D model of their face by taking different angled photos while the customer moves according to instructions.
The biometric check itself could be tricked with a photo but, in combination with the liveness check, it proves there is a real person in front of the camera.
This all sounds like a significant time investment for companies?
It does but, if you can find a solution that offers both a fully automated system AND a video identification solution on a single platform, then it becomes pretty friction-free and part of the workflow. In fact, customers can be checked in a matter of minutes. Organisations worldwide need to be taking this very seriously. With over 1.9 billion websites and counting, there is a huge potential for fraud, and it’s a serious problem that must be slowed down.
The threat of identity fraud is not going away and, as fraudsters become more and more sophisticated, so too must technology. With the right investment in advanced technology measures, organisations will be in a much stronger position to stop fraudsters in their tracks and protect their customers from the risk of identity fraud.