Over Two Billion Device Reputation Checks
July 23rd, 2009 by Greg PiersonWe recently announced an amazing achievement and this is a proud moment for everyone at iovation. Since our inception, we have processed over 2.0 billion real-time device reputation inquiries for our subscribers.
Over two billion times, our subscribers have used one of our device printing technologies while interacting with end-users and then reached out to our service with device printing data plus their unique account or transaction identifier. In real-time (sub-second response times) our service then follows business rules that are unique to each subscriber and leverages terabytes of information in our global fraud database, the Device Reputation Authority (DRA). We can tell subscribers if they have ever seen a given device and if any related accounts and devices have a history of fraud or abuse at their site. We can also tell subscribers if any related devices are associated with fraud or abuse at other subscriber sites.
In processing all these device reputation inquiries, we have stopped over 11 million fraudulent and abusive activities. If the average loaded cost is just $100.00 per incident, then we have saved our customers over $1.0 billion in fraud and abuse losses. And this, of course, is the whole point. We help our subscribers stop everything from identity theft and stolen credit card use to cheating, posting unwanted content, chat abuse and child predation. Over 11 million times our subscribers stopped a purchase, login or other action with sufficient confidence to avoid any additional review. And this is just the real-time stops. We also help our subscribers identify suspicious activity through real-time notices, Risk Module, scheduled reports, and add hoc queries through our web-based admin console.
I can’t help but think of how far we have come in the past five years as a company and how quickly ecommerce evolves. Internet businesses have undergone a significant transition in general awareness of what device fingerprinting solutions, like iovation’s ReputationManager, have to offer. In the ‘old days’, just a few years ago, we spent considerable time explaining what device reputation was and educating potential subscribers about how using our service could change the way they identified relationships between accounts, orders, or applications. Contrast that with today’s environment, where device fingerprinting solutions are recognized as a best-practice and even a necessary component to any fraud and abuse management system. Nowhere was this more evident than in this year’s Fraud Management report that identified device fingerprinting as the #1 planned technology for implementation over the course of the next year and as one of the top three effective technologies for fighting fraud.
In addition to increasing market awareness of the power of device reputation, we have experienced tremendous growth in our business. It took us about four years to process our first billion transactions and only one year to hit the next billion. We currently track the reputation of over 140 million unique devices, up nearly 500% from just a year ago. We have grown from protecting a handful of businesses in a single industry to protecting hundreds of web properties, many of which are globally recognized brands, involved in all kinds of e-commerce activities.
What has driven our growth more than anything is that we simply deliver results. Our subscribers have realized remarkable returns, such as our Fortune 100 credit issuer who generated a 321% ROI in the first two years, and Ntreev USA who saw amazing results within a mere 30 days. We are proud of the real value we deliver and delight in stopping fraudsters and helping our subscribers minimize losses and increase profits.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our employees, our partners, our investors and most of all our subscribers who have made this growth and success possible. We are working together to fight fraud and abuse more effectively each day.
