New Advanced Activity Modeling Flags Fraud Schemes Early, Increases Protection From Financial Loss Due to Multi-Channel Fraud LOS ALTOS, Calif., Aug. 18
LOS ALTOS, Calif., Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardian Analytics, a provider
of online account fraud prevention software for financial services
institutions, today announced the general availability of a new version of its
flagship product, FraudMAP(TM) 2.0. This new release extends Guardian
Analytics' proprietary Dynamic Account Modeling(TM) technology to model all
individual online account holder activity session by session, from login to
logout, increasing FraudMAP's ability to detect suspicious actions and flag
behaviors inconsistent with predicted account holder behavior.
The newly advanced activity modeling capabilities in Guardian Analytics'
FraudMAP 2.0 analyzes all online account activity within and across sessions,
including seemingly benign actions such as viewing check images or updating
contact information. Sophisticated algorithms predict and weigh inherent risk
by a number of parameters, such as expected account holder behavior and size
of potential loss, to more accurately alert financial institutions to
suspicious activity while minimizing false positives. In addition, FraudMAP
2.0 provides banks, credit unions, and brokerages with extensive session and
customer-specific context for advanced fraud and identity theft investigation
and prevention.
"Multi-Channel" Fraud Protection
Multi-channel fraud has become a prevalent problem for financial
institutions. In these attacks, fraudsters use a compromised online banking
account to obtain information such as account numbers and signature blocks to
later commit financial fraud via another banking channel, like through the
call center or via wire transfer or check writing. These fraud schemes leave
no suspicious online financial transactions for account holders or transaction
monitoring systems to detect. Moreover, because the actual loss occurs in
another channel, financial institutions often mischaracterize the nature of
the threat. FraudMAP 2.0 detects these compromises and prevents the fraud
in-process before losses can occur.
"Most U.S. banks heeded FFIEC guidance and implemented stronger user
authentication for their online banking customers," said Avivah Litan, vice
president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "However, according to our
March 2008 survey of 50 U.S. banks, these measures are already being
circumvented by thieves using phishing and malware-based intrusion attacks
against end users, including cross-channel fraud schemes that typically
involve online banking account takeover. Financial institutions should
consider using the upcoming 'Red Flag' regulation deadline as an opportunity
to improve suboptimal fraud prevention processes cross-account, cross-channel
and cross-institution."
The impending Federal Trade Commission's "Red Flag" legislation deadline
of November 2008 is placing additional pressure on banks to prevent identity
theft with effective prevention programs. FraudMAP 2.0 assists financial
institutions in meeting a variety of ongoing compliance, risk and audit
requirements. This latest release contains: 1) additional modeling and
algorithm enhancements that increase risk scoring accuracy; 2) new user
interface modifications that allow fraud analysts to more quickly and easily
manage alerts and investigate incidents; and 3) new performance and
scalability improvements that meet the needs of larger financial institutions.
"Fraudsters continually demonstrate their ability to compromise
traditional approaches to protecting online accounts, with a recent example
being the Coreflood Trojan. This scheme steals and validates online banking
credentials, despite the strong authentication and basic fraud detection
methods institutions have implemented," said Tom Miltonberger, founder and
CEO, Guardian Analytics. "Our new release overcomes the weaknesses of
traditional approaches. FraudMAP 2.0's activity modeling, highly accurate risk
scoring, and investigative capabilities help financial institutions stay ahead
of the fraudsters."
Availability and Pricing
Guardian Analytics FraudMAP(TM) version 2.0 is available now for annual
subscription and features a tiered pricing model based on number of accounts
protected.
About FraudMAP(TM)
FraudMAP delivers fraud detection, forensics and ongoing risk monitoring
with strong analytics and predictive models of individual customer behavior.
The solution beats fraudsters by automatically detecting new and evolving
fraud threats, delivering accurate and actionable alerts and providing rapid
investigation capabilities, while not requiring rules development or
maintenance. A visual analytic application powers cross-functional
investigation, resolution and risk monitoring for users across fraud
operations, information security, compliance/risk management, and online
channel management.
About Guardian Analytics
Headquartered in Los Altos, Calif., Guardian Analytics is focused on the
prevention of online account fraud. The company's real-time risk management
approach to fraud detection, forensics and risk monitoring is built on strong
analytics and predictive models of individual behavior. Leading financial
services institutions rely on Guardian Analytics to protect individual account
assets and the integrity of their online channels. Founded in 2005, Guardian
Analytics is privately held with venture funding from Foundation Capital. For
more information, please visit http://www.guardiananalytics.com.
SOURCE Guardian Analytics
