Cybercrime is one of the dark forces shaping the internet. Every year it seems that each side–security experts and cybercriminals–steps up its efforts. A report from ThreatMetrix examines the current landscape and details the expansion of cybercrime since this time last year.
ThreatMetrix analyzed 5.5 billion transactions within its network from January through March. The company identifies fraudulent transactions using many metrics, including ?device identification, geolocation, previous history and behavioral analytics.? The network is able to track user identities across platforms and devices.
The company detected and stopped more than 100 million transactions during the survey period, which was almost a 52 percent increase over the previous year. Additionally, 311 million bot attacks were identified and stopped, which is a 34 percent increase since the fourth quarter of last year. Because of low registration requirements, login fraud and fraudulent account creations are high among the media and entertainment verticals, and they account for 39 percent and 36 percent, respectively, of all attacks detected by ThreatMetrix. Fraudulent new account creation was up 175 percent year-over-year.
Once account data is leaked, bot attacks increase dramatically as criminals try to take advantage of these compromised accounts. While this can be particularly damaging to the financial and e-commerce industries, if social data leaks, it puts users at risk of identify fraud ...