Visa launches payment security suite; advocates holistic protection of ecosystem
By Omobayo Azeez
Global digital payment service provider, Visa, has introduced a suite of innovative security capabilities to prevent electronic payment fraud, harping on complete protection of the electronic payment ecosystem.
The new cybersecurity suite launched at Visa’s Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) Security Summit 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, is designed to break new ground in Cybersecurity and fraud prevention across (CEMEA).
The forum brought together payment industry experts from risk, business and operational departments of financial institutions, merchants, processors and other payment service providers.
According to Visa, the new payment security services and capabilities help protect the integrity of the payments ecosystem by detecting and disrupting fraud threats targeting financial institutions and merchants.
Regional Risk Officer, CEMEA, Visa, Hector Rodriguez, said the new capabilities are available to Visa clients at no additional cost or sign-up, but through Visa’s continued investments in intelligence and technology.
She said these add to the long list of benefits financial institution and merchant clients enjoy as participants in the Visa global payment network.
He said: “Cybercriminals attempt to bypass traditional defenses by stealing credentials, harvesting data, obtaining privileged access, and attacking trusted third-party supply chains.
“Visa’s new payment security capabilities combine payment and cyber intelligence, insights and learnings from breach investigations, and law enforcement engagement to help financial institutions and merchants solve the most critical security challenges.”
According to a global report by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Visa, ATM cashout attacks that exploit vulnerabilities among financial institutions and processors to remove fraud controls to withdraw money from cash machines fraudulently, and automated testing of values and credentials to gain unauthorized access to information and functionality called “enumeration attacks” were among the most prevalent account-related fraud types identified by respondents.
At the same time, the report adds, card-not-present fraud that includes eCommerce, phone and mail orders was found to be less frequent but caused more damage to businesses—representing nearly 40 percent of fraud losses and operational costs. Managing payment fraud holistically is imperative to meet these challenges.
According to Visa, “At the center of every Visa transaction is trust. As threats evolve, Visa’s payment security capabilities help to holistically protect the core components of the ecosystem—people, data and infrastructure—to maintain trust and connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure digital payment network.”
It further explained that the new security capabilities add to existing protections and include Visa vital signs, Visa account attack intelligence, Visa payment threats lab and Visa eCommerce threat disruption.
Rodriguez added that these capabilities complement Visa Payment Threat Intelligence, which provides actionable and informational cyber intelligence to clients and merchants worldwide,
“It offers timely intelligence reporting, technical delivery and educational materials. This includes alerts, analysis, technical indicators, and mitigations for potential cybercrime threats, account compromises and fraud,” he concluded.