While 10 individuals have been placed behind bars for the
recent Facebook
phishing scheme, more than 11 million computers have been left compromised
and over $850 million has been stolen.The arrests certainly bring partial justice to this major cyber crime,
but more than handcuffs are needed to help combat attacks of this nature.
Experts in both the security and banking industries agree that stronger
authentication is needed to help prevent these types of crime.
The scam all started in the place where people share the
most about themselves, Facebook. The fraudsters accessed information by sending
out fraudulent friend requests and then sent phishing emails to the accepting
users Facebook friends. The scam resulted in a loss of over $850 million
before the individuals were arrested. As online security expert, Neil
Schwartzman, suggests, banking institutions needs to focus on stronger
authentication measures to prevent cybercrime. Both Schwartzman and Jevans
state that stronger authentication would have prevented some of the losses of
this attack. While other experts go on to recommend two-factor authentication,
a recent breach has proved that cyber thieves have found ways around two-factor
authentication as well. This is not to say that this method is not
effective, but companies should know there are other options as well.
Knowledge-based
authentication offers a layer of authentication that standard measures do
not. By developing answers to security questions that look and feel like the
correct answer, these options will throw off any identity thief regardless of
how much personal information they have. These questions are created in a way
that only the true identity holder can answer them. Businesses need to be well
educated on their online security
options before investing in one. As the world continues to moves online,
business must devote time and money into protecting their business and end
users. Identity authentication will no longer be an option soon, but a
necessity and companies will need to choose the option that is best for their
name and consumers.
[Contributed by EVS Marketing]
