November 12-18 is International Fraud Awareness Week. As one of the top enterprise identity providers, Ping Identity is dedicated to spreading the message of Fraud Awareness Week. Not only do we provide top identity fraud protection solutions, but we also promote identity fraud protection best practices among customers and peers.
Ping is constantly monitoring the global landscape for trends and insights in the identity security space. In doing so, we are reminded time and again that account takeover (ATO) and new account fraud (NAF) are significant problems for any organization doing business online. Yet, Ping also understands the immense pressure online businesses like e-commerce retailers face to provide seamless and enjoyable experiences.
With the latest developments in customer identity access management (CIAM) at the front of our minds, Fraud Week is a great time to come together with the cybersecurity community to highlight the importance of identity fraud protection.
What is International Fraud Awareness Week?
Fraud Awareness Week was established in 2000 by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). According to the website, throughout the week “Organizations and individuals are encouraged…to host training opportunities, distribute anti-fraud information or otherwise promote anti-fraud activities.”
Following the central aims of Fraud Week, it’s incumbent upon Ping to educate the public on how vital threat protection is to preventing identity fraud. Since identity is the digital front door to sensitive data, bad actors penetrate identity systems to gain access to valuable business resources. As such, Ping can’t think of a better way to observe Fraud Week than to spread awareness about the importance of protecting against identity threats in fraud prevention.
Why Identity Fraud Protection is More Important Now Than Ever
As more people use the internet for basic tasks like shopping and banking, it becomes difficult for service providers to monitor every digital action. At the same time, bad actors are developing increasingly sophisticated attack vectors across a wide array of attack surfaces.
In writing the eBook “State of Identity 2023: A Pivotal Time in Customer Identity,” the team at Ping Identity spoke with hundreds of IT, security, and business professionals to better learn how their organizations use CIAM. In doing so, we uncovered some interesting statistics concerning fraud:
- 76% of people report identity fraud as their highest priority for fraud prevention
- 89% of organizations confirm offering MFA and 69% say at least half of their customers have it enabled
- 27% of e-commerce businesses still don’t offer MFA to their customers
- 50% of companies measure the success of CIAM by decreased account compromises
While identity fraud is the most predominant concern highlighted in our survey, that doesn’t necessarily mean organizations take every possible step to protect people’s identities. This notion is particularly true for e-commerce companies that will quickly lose customers when their login and verification methods are too cumbersome.
Want to learn how to provide secure and seamless user experiences with your digital properties? Check out this Ping Identity webinar on December 12, 2023: Focus on User Experience to Grow Customer Loyalty and Transform Your Business.
Identity Fraud is Ground Zero for Fraud Prevention
Identity fraud is a leading concern that unites IT, security, and business professionals worldwide. Identity is the digital front door to sensitive customer data, and ATO and NAF are the primary means of sneaking through the doorway.
With ATO, a bad actor penetrates a person’s established online account. In observance of Fraud Week, Ping Identity wants to highlight that ATO fraud cost $11.4 billion in the year 2021 alone.
With NAF, cybercriminals impersonate legitimate users to create new accounts. To truly appreciate the message of Fraud Week, IT and security professionals can’t ignore the fact that a good deal of NAF crimes are perpetrated using people’s real information that was compromised online.
At Ping Identity, we believe in making digital experiences both secure and seamless for all users, without compromise. We call this digital freedom. And it’s not just something we provide our customers. It’s something that inspires our company. Our intelligent, cloud identity platform lets people shop, work, bank, and interact wherever and however they want – securely. Without friction. Without fear.
About the Author: Louise Watson is a Product Marketing Manager at Ping Identity. She began her career in public media, non-profit fundraising, and political advocacy after finishing her master’s in political management at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She specialized in membership, fundraising, and marketing at Rocky Mountain PBS and Donor Development Strategies before transitioning to lead customer and product development at ACD Direct. While at ACD, Louise became a certified Product Master via the Pragmatic Institute. She is now the Product Marketing Manager at Ping Identity and an avid skier and golfer in her spare time.
