The importance of the state of the client device has been a point of contention in the security community for a few years. Client devices are a large unknown, and they can be infected with malicious malware or exposed to phishing attacks, malicious JavaScripts, and other client-side attacks.
When it comes to securing online applications and preventing fraud, businesses have typically relied on server-side detective and preventative controls. In other words, policies have long been a go-to technique for minimizing risk from security breaches and fraud occurrences, alongside data, logs, and transaction information. Recently, many businesses have begun to evaluate whether or not they should look at the client side environment as well, and if so, how they should go about doing so.
Here are the top five issues that businesses may face when it comes to client-side security:
Playing a game of whack-a-mole
Malicious JavaScript, banking Trojans, and other types of client-side attacks are abundant. They will also be around for a long time; so, once a company opens the Pandora’s box that is the client side, they can get quickly overwhelmed. Of course, each company must determine what, if any, action it will take when a client device is identified accessing an online application from a hacked environment. Any processes around this, if not built well, can quickly devolve into a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, burying the security and fraud teams.
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Losing sight of the risks
It’s critical to treat information about a hacked client-side environment as just that: information. While the information may be useful in determining the total risk to that client’s accounts, it is not a credible indicator of risk in and of itself. With so much stolen account information and compromised PII floating around, a fraudster can do Account Takeover (ATO) in a variety of methods. In other words, a compromised client device does not always imply that ATO will occur, and it does not always imply that the company will suffer a fraud loss. A variety of distinct data points are needed to make this conclusion, one of which being the condition of the client device. If this crucial element is overlooked, the company may lose focus on risk.
Losing sight of transactional focus
It’s critical to stay focused on transactions when attempting to limit risk and reduce fraud losses. It’s all too easy to get side-tracked by other data points that appear interesting but don’t give indications if a transaction is valid, suspicious, or fraudulent. While useful information on the client device can help establish whether or not a transaction is fraudulent, it is not enough to reach that decision without other crucial data points. If companies lose sight of this transactional focus, they are all too likely to slide into a never-ending cycle of false positives and noise that will eventually bury them.
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Losing focus on sensitive information
When a company opens the door to the client side, it is common to be confronted with an overwhelming amount of data. If all of that data isn’t correctly processed, categorized, and triaged, it could result in a flood of alerts, the most of which may be useless. It’s critical to remember what’s really important: sensitive data that could end up in the hands of an attacker, as well as the ability to add, change, and/or remove transaction data. It’s also crucial to remember that, while magecart attacks are the most prevalent, they’re not the only way to attack. As businesses begin to look at the client side, they must stay focused on sensitive data in order to avoid getting overwhelmed with less important data.
Overlooking user experience
While it may be tempting to implement stringent, draconian measures in the fight against fraud, it is crucial to note that such strategies do not always result in reduced fraud. They may, however, have a detrimental impact on the user experience, resulting in revenue loss for the company. It’s critical to put in place sufficient safeguards to protect online apps from fraud, but it’s also crucial to realize that a friction-filled user experience will cost the company money in other ways. When a company overlooks this crucial balance, it exposes itself to a new risk: losing potential revenue to competitors.
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