ROCKVILLE, Md. -
National Institutes of Health FCU (NIHFCU) listens in on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) conversations in particular to help prevent debit card fraud, according to John Szeglin, IT manager at the $350-million CU. IRC sites are the Net's hub for trading and selling stolen member information, he said.
"IRC is one of the darker corners of the web and the main channel for quickly posting and exchanging debit card numbers," Szeglin said.
To listen in on IRCs, NIHFCU has used the Cyveillance Intelligence Center since July. Cyveillance monitors IRCs, as well as blogs, Usenet groups, spam and other channels, for NIHFCU card Bank Identification Numbers (BIN).
"If one of our BINs comes up, Cyveillance alerts us, and we can contact the member and block the card," Szeglin continued.
NIHFCU also addresses the problem from the backend by attempting to shut down phishing sites that steal the card numbers in the first place.
"If we can shut-down a phishing site before our members give up their information, then we can effectively stave off a nice piece of potential fraud loss," said Szeglin.
Cyveillance scans the web for phishing sites, which pose as the legitimate NIHFCU banking site and surreptitiously collect the card and personal data that the member enters on-screen.
"But addressing phishing doesn't prevent the entire problem," Szeglin added.
Debit card fraud is flourishing in part because it's hard to pinpoint the source of the leaks, he explained. Phishers steal card information, but so do retail salespeople, employees at third-party service providers and a host of other criminals.
"We don't know all the ways that the losses are happening," said Szeglin. "We're relying on a bunch of people we don't even know, such as retail stores and other financial institutions, to keep our members' data secure. We depend on members to be educated about how they are using their cards and vendors to keep strong security processes and storage."
More and more criminals are attracted to the debit card fraud racket, continued Szeglin.
"Industry-wide there is greater interest in exploiting card information, and the attacks are becoming more sophisticated and organized," he said.
Many credit unions have told Credit Union Journal that debit card losses are mounting. CEO Charles Bruen of $595-million First Entertainment CU in Hollywood, Calif., calls debit fraud a "burning building" in which the CU is suffering hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses annually.
Financial institutions nationwide lost more than $660-million to debit card fraud last year, according to the PULSE ATM/debit network.
Szeglin expressed hope that card vendors are taking steps that will stem the flow of fraud.
Credit card processors will increase audit checks on card CVV numbers and the city, state and zip codes where the card is held, he said.
"After the member uses the card, they will have to provide more information about themselves," he said. "Kind of like dual-factor authentication."
FOR MORE RESOURCES
Read more about card fraud-and technologies to stop it-at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
I.D. Protection Is 'A Me Thing,' for a story about the State Employees CU effort to cut fraud by issuing cards that bear member photos.
Plastic Card Fraud Poses Huge Threat to Credit Unions, for perspective on the plastic problem by CUNA Mutual Group CEO Jeff Post.
Losses Lead CUNA Mutual To Plan Rate Hike, for a story about insurance premium increases due to card fraud.
Valuable Tools Left In The Tool Box, for a story about credit unions running card programs based on old risk profiles in a new debit world.
Dollar Tree Customers Are Easy Pickings For Cyberthieves, for a story about a phony ATM card scheme.
For info on this story:
* National Institutes of Health FCU, www.nihfcu.org
* Cyveillance, www.cyveillance.com
