Fraud Fusion Centers: The NEW Way to Stop Cyber Fraud

Cyber fraud is a significant threat to financial institutions (FIs) as threat actors become more daring and innovative in their attempts to breach systems. FIs are on high alert to detect, prevent, and mitigate threats, and rightfully so, because they are uniquely responsible for safeguarding sensitive data and valuable assets and are held to a higher standard to prove their capability to do it effectively. Cyber fraud comes in a variety of shapes and forms, and these attacks, like phishing, malware, hacking, denial of service attacks, and software piracy, all threaten with the same goal: to infiltrate your network, illegally access data to commit fraud, to launder money. With a resolute effort to unite against the threat of cyber fraud, Fraud Fusion Centers are being embraced across all industries to effectively combat cyber fraud.

What are Fraud Fusion Centers, and how do they work?

Fraud Fusion Centers are collaborative platforms that bring together law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, and other relevant entities to share intelligence, coordinate efforts, and take action against cybercriminals. Fraud Fusion Centers operate as a centralized hub that receives and analyzes information and intelligence related to cyber fraud. They act as a “one stop shop” for peer sharing and thoughtful discussion on how to prevent and respond to cyber fraud. The goal is to bring together expertise from different disciplines and organizations to fight cybercrime more efficiently and effectively.

In a Fraud Fusion Center, people across various agencies, departments, and roles share information from their own sources. The information is then analyzed to identify patterns, trends, and potential threats. Traditionally, departments, even in the same industry or organization often operate in siloes, never sharing information or gaining perspective on situations or issues that equally and similarly affect them. During a Fraud Fusion Center, the group works together and shares best practices, investigation facts and information, strategies for prevention and response, and current threats. Working in this collaborative space strengthens the fight against cyber fraud so that threats are stopped before they become attacks and before any money leaves accounts.

How do Fraud Fusion Centers stop cyber fraud?

Fraud Fusion Centers prevent cyber fraud by combining the strengths of different organizations across relevant industries. By creating a centralized avenue for information sharing and coordination, Fraud Fusion Centers can leverage knowledge from different entities and identify potential threats to ultimately take action more quickly and efficiently. For example:

• Financial institutions can provide valuable insights into the types of fraud they encounter daily and the tactics used to attempt a breach.
• Law enforcement agencies provide information on known threat actors and their current methods from a completely different standpoint.
• Regulatory agencies can offer guidance and oversight to ensure organizations follow best practices and comply with relevant regulations.
• Cyber risk management companies provide insight into solutions that best fit the needs of the FI.

By combining these perspectives and expertise, Fraud Fusion Centers can create a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to combating cyber fraud.

The DefenseStorm Fraud Fusion Center

As a leader in the cyber risk management industry, DefenseStorm practices information sharing through a few different and effective methods:

     1. Daily Security Intel Bulletins: Each day DefenseStorm Director of Cyber Defense, Elizabeth Houser, compiles the most vital, emerging cybersecurity news articles for banks and credit unions. It’s free and accessible to anyone who would like to subscribe.

     2. Current threat reports: Our experts regularly post significant trends, critical alerts, and yearly threat projections.

     3. Information sharing through an internal portal: Our clients receive alerts, guidance, and information regarding potential threats through our internal portal.

     4. Customer outreach: DefenseStorm clients never fight the battle against cybercrime alone. Our team of security analysts keep all clients current on threat watch and potential issues to proactively stop threats from becoming an attack.

What’s NEW: DefenseStorm now offers a quarterly Fraud Fusion Center Round Table discussion over Webinar. It’s free to attend, and anyone can participate in the conversation.

To learn more about our built for banking approach to fraud, check out GRID Active Fraud Prevention.