LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO–So much for holiday cheer.
New data released by Arkose Labs, a fraud deterrence platform, has released its newest data on fraud trends, revealing increased threats during the holidays, rising attacks by bots, and a resurgence in attacks on travel companies.
“As shoppers fill their online carts, account takeover (ATO) attacks and gift-card fraud remain persistent,” the company said.
The Q4 Arkose Labs Fraud and Abuse Report shares the top six fraud-fighting trends from the previous three months and provides data highlighting that “no digital business is immune from attack.”
According to the report, financial industries saw 32% more attacks than in the first half of 2021. Retail and travel attacks increased 63% in Q3, and gaming saw a spate of fake new accounts being set up for fraudulent purposes. Media and streaming businesses saw 60% of malicious activity targeting logins, and 20% of these attacks originating from human fraud farms, while technology platforms see 91% of all attacks powered by bots.
Increases Across Every Industry
Overall, attacks are increasing in every industry, and they are growing more sophisticated, the company said.
“As we approach 2022, the frequency and severity of fraud continues to threaten any organization doing business online,” said Arkose Labs CMO Vanita Pandey. “Based on intelligence garnered from the Arkose Labs Network, we predict a 60% increase in attacks for the upcoming 2021 holiday shopping season. No digital business is immune to this threat.”
Other Highlights
According to the company, other highlights of the report include:
- Holiday Season is also Cybercrime Season. “Attacks have steadily increased over 2020, becoming more frequent, launching on a larger scale, and initiating with greater sophistication. Digital companies need to understand how fraudsters work and protect the parts of their business that are vulnerable to attack. Arkose Labs estimates that eight million attacks will occur daily during the 2021 holiday shopping season that is now underway. As long as fraudulent attacks are profitable for bad actors, companies must be vigilant in their defense.”
- Travel Industry is Back in the Crosshairs. “The world is traveling again, and that means more online bookings through travel sites. The travel sector enjoyed a 40% increase in digital traffic, creating the perfect opportunity for attacks, which increased 80% from Q2 to Q3 2021. Digital traffic to U.S. travel sites was hit particularly hard, with 66% of those online visits marked as fraud or bot attacks.”
- Asia Leads the Globe in Attacks. “Asia has returned as the top originator of fraud attacks, with China driving nearly half of all attacks in Q3. In comparison, the United States, in second place, accounted for 19.4% of attacks.”
- Bots Take Center Stage. While human fraud attempts are increasing, machine attacks are predicted to hold steady and possibly ramp up during the holiday season. Bots now account for 88% of attacks. In 2020, more than 2 million bot attacks occurred between October and December. This year, the number will likely be even higher, making it all the more important for businesses to increase scrutiny of traffic intended to do harm.”
- Fraud Has a New Face. “Digital businesses are experiencing a massive surge of fake new accounts. Arkose Labs detected 560 million malicious attempts on registration flows last quarter, which is four times more than at the beginning of the year. These fake accounts open the doors to downstream fraud that directly impacts the bottom line of e-commerce firms.”
- Credential Stuffing Continues to Plague Online Businesses. “As more customers open digital accounts, account takeover attempts fueled by large-scale credential stuffing soon follow. Arkose Labs stopped three-billion credential stuffing attacks over the past year, nearly doubling over the past 12 months. In 2020 digital businesses saw 90% higher volume of credential stuffing attacks during the final quarter of the year, over the holiday shopping period.”