It’s been described as the event that has the greatest potential for credit card fraud to ever occur in U.S. history. Fraud experts are saying that the recent Sony PlayStation Network data breach, in which hackers stole information on 77 million customers, could easily spill over to online retailers market if the cyber criminals got their hands on members’ credit card numbers.

In the Internet Retailer article, “Sony data breaches highlight the fraud risks online retailers face,” it was first disclosed that hackers made off with customers’ names, street addresses, email addresses and dates of birth. However, updated reports now say that up to 10 million credit cards may have been compromised. (more…)

We’ve recently learned that iovation ReputationManager 360 has been selected by the Info Security Products Guide as a finalist for this year’s Global Excellence Awards. Our fraud prevention service, which combines device identification, device reputation and real-time device risk reporting to prevent card-not-present (CNP) fraud and other online abuses, has been recognized in the categories of Risk Management and Best Security Service.

While this and the other accolades we’ve received lately have been nothing short of overwhelming, we are extremely proud of being recognized by industry leaders and associations across multiple industries. Because we serve online retail, gaming, social community and financial services companies, the acknowledgements have been a testament to iovation’s ongoing commitment to make the Internet a safer place to interact and conduct business, as well as reinforces the positive impact we make in the everyday lives of our customers by protecting their online transactions to reduce fraud rates.

The 2011 Global Excellence Awards will be announced at an awards gala, February 16th, in San Francisco.

While online payments is the fastest growing segment of retail and payments, it also continues to be one of the riskiest. As cyber criminals step up their game and adapt new techniques to defraud online and card-not-present (CNP) merchants, payment providers and online retailers must take steps to protect their networks from organized fraud rings. (more…)

While overall percentages of online fraud continue to climb, one of our partners in fighting cyber crime, Retail Decisions (ReD), reported that card payment fraud in the UK dropped an estimated 15% last year. According to the article, “ReD Estimates a 15% Drop in UK Card Payment Fraud in 2009,” the value of online, mail order and telephone order fraud dipped to GBP278 million in 2009 from GBP328 million in 2008.

Retail Decisions CEO, Carl Clump, credits innovations in fraud prevention technologies for the estimated 15% decline over the past year. This defied the trend where overall CNP (card not present) fraud losses have grown consistently over the past five years. Despite the total drop in losses, Clump was quick to point out that the current trend, which would continue well into 2010, may not be here to stay. (more…)