In April 2022, a medical billing company based in New York became the victim of a serious ransomware attack. Bad actors stole personal and financial data of patients from 26 healthcare institutions who were the company’s clients. The billing company had to notify almost 1 million individuals that their data had been stolen. Over the last few years, organizations and fintechs that process payments for healthcare providers have become a hot target for cyber attacks.

September 05, 2022. INETCO® Systems Limited, a global leader in real-time payment fraud prevention and cybersecurity software, is pleased to welcome Agility, a leading provider of managed cybersecurity solutions in Brazil, to INETCO’s reseller ecosystem.

Imagine you are chilling over coffee with your co-workers in a break room. The deadline for the launch of your newest product is imminent and you are discussing last-minute design modifications. Digital images of the product float by as your AI assistant suggests the best potential design modifications. Together, you and your team choose the final product design and are ready for the next step in the launch. Virtual high fives ensue.

Over the last two years, we’ve observed how digital assets have revolutionized payment and banking services. The explosion of interest in digital currencies brings with it new challenges in governance, privacy, competition, cybersecurity, and social inclusion. While a cashless future is still far away, more than 80% of central banks are either considering the launch of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or have already done so.

2023 might be a really important year for real-time payments (RTP) development in North America. FedNow, a real-time payments service, is on track to go operational in 2023 in the USA, while the Real-Time Rail (RTR) payment system will be fully launched in Canada, also in 2023. Currently, in their test phases, these payment systems will go mainstream next year, making faster payments more accessible to smaller financial institutions and businesses.

When the American heist comedy Ocean’s Eleven was released on Friday, December 7, 2001, it topped the box-office draw for that weekend. The story follows two friends who plan to steal $160 million from three major casinos in Las Vegas. Entertainment Weekly called it “the most winning robbery sequence of the decade”.

Back in April, our team attended the ATMIA Canada Conference 2022, which focused on what is next for the industry, current trends in cash use, and ATM security. At one of the sessions, the ATM Security Association (ASA) presented their new Crisis & Crime Management Intelligence System – the industry’s first global-scale ATM crime database and intelligence management system for analysis of crime trends.

A San Francisco-based bank recently disclosed the results of a payment fraud investigation that uncovered ATM skimming attempts at the bank’s terminals across the United States. Fraudsters installed ATM skimming devices in several branches and used them to skim customer account information. The bank was understandably concerned that the stolen data would be used to create fake debit cards and attempt cash withdrawals.

A medical lab scientist landed in Johannesburg on Saturday, February 5th, for his two-week assignment. Soon after landing, family and friends called him to say that some people were calling and texting them, looking for him. Those people were hackers, who had got hold of his contacts. The scientist didn’t pay much attention to it, but two days later he received a message from his telecom company that they had received a SIM card swap request from him, which he, of course, never made.

This blog is a part of our new series 5 Strategies for Building Resilience to Financial Crimes and Cyber Attacks in 2022. Access to the right data at the right time is the foundation of an efficient payment fraud prevention strategy. At INETCO, we like to say that not all insights are created equal: if you are missing some key pieces of the puzzle you won’t get a clear picture of the threat landscape.