Mastercard launches Threat Intelligence to combat payment fraud

Mastercard has introduced a new service designed to help financial institutions detect and prevent payment fraud before it happens. Mastercard Threat Intelligence will combine the company’s global fraud data with cyber threat intelligence from Recorded Future, resulting in a deeper level of visibility to how fraud originates and spreads across the payments ecosystem.

Fraud doesn’t always start when someone tries to buy something with a stolen card. In fact, it often begins much earlier -- when criminals hack a website to steal card details, run automated tests on stolen cards, or plant malware to skim payment data, for example. Mastercard’s new system helps banks’ fraud teams and cybersecurity teams spot these early warning signs together, instead of waiting until fraudulent transactions happen.

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“As the lines between cybercrime and financial crime continue to blur, innovation is an imperative,” said Johan Gerber, global head of Security Solutions at Mastercard. “Mastercard Threat Intelligence provides customers with actionable, real-time and targeted risk insights to disrupt fraudulent transactions, inform strategic defense and ultimately enable a more proactive approach.”

The launch follows Mastercard’s acquisition of Recorded Future and will allow the credit card giant to integrate threat data across sectors and regions, building stronger links between cybersecurity and financial operations.

The service will deliver real-time notification of fraudulent test transactions, allowing banks to block compromised cards sooner. It will also provide intelligence on digital skimming and malware, helping customers understand and mitigate threats to e-commerce platforms. Weekly reports summarize emerging vulnerabilities across the global payments landscape, while in-depth case studies and trend analyses guide strategic planning.

“Effective cybersecurity will increasingly depend on threat intelligence that crosses sectors and regions. Vendors with broad transactional data and analytics will play a key role in improving information-sharing among financial services, merchants and across the industry,” said Tracy (Kitten) Goldberg, director, Cybersecurity at Javelin Strategy & Research.

“New doors are opening for advanced threat intel,” she added, “facilitated through successful cyber fusion that incorporates a myriad of tools across identity verification, fraud detection, and indicators of compromise. Feeding threat intel across disparate teams and industries in meaningful and useful ways will help fraud and cybersecurity teams more readily identify trends, placing them in positions to move from reactive response to proactive mitigation.”

Mastercard reported that its intelligence tools have already helped partners identify and shut down malicious domains linked to payment card theft. During early testing, the system flagged sites responsible for about $120 million in fraud affecting nearly 9,500 e-commerce stores.

Mastercard Threat Intelligence is available now to issuers and acquirers worldwide.

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