Organisations across the globe today use between an average of four and six different tools or platforms as part of their overall fraud and risk strategy, according to new research* from Darwinium – a next generation digital risk management platform.  Whilst this approach has become necessary to defend against the ever-evolving plethora of online threats and adversaries, it seems that the lack of a common and singular view is creating significant challenges to customer experience and authentication processes. 

Fraudsters continue to move faster than business

Online criminals are building adversarial AI tools to disrupt risk models, automating attacks to test millions of stolen or synthetic identities in seconds, and emulating devices or mimicking user behavior.  However, according to Darwinium’s Evolution Survey of fraud and risk professionals, 68% of businesses face the challenge that adversaries are adapting faster than their current fraud solutions.  

The latest data found that an enormous 81% of businesses believe that their fraud controls are impacting customer friction, yet solutions are still ‘customer blind’.  A separate independent report also presented data that showed global losses from fraud now represent 6.4% of GDP, equating to $5.38 trillion (£4.37 trillion). Alongside this, globally recognised ecommerce analysts** have recently stated that the average online transaction in 2021 had the value of approx. £100 or £76 – meaning potentially billions in lost revenue for any organisations with an online commerce function.

Alisdair Faulkner, co-founder and CEO at Darwinium, commented: “Digital risk protection is about continuously analysing the customer journey and behaviour, rather than a point-in-time evaluation. It requires a joined-up system that allows decision control for multiple internal stakeholders via one common view, giving them the power to adapt faster than adversaries. That could be security teams managing attacks, fraud and risk teams looking at transactional threats but also user experience teams monitoring customer experience or where cart abandonment happens.”

“We’re seeing a lot of focus in the industry on security orchestration, to integrate and connect different tools, but orchestration isn’t possible without decision control – it’s tantamount to operating dumb pipes.” 

 He continued: “Fraudsters are capitalizing on new technology to adapt attack surfaces in minutes. Outdated fraud and risk models or those businesses operating in silos not only risk being attacked, but they also risk deterring good customers, missing the opportunity to capture valuable intelligence across the customer journey due to lack of simple integration.”