A Review of the Best News of the Week on Identity Management & Web Fraud

US Convicts “King of Fraud” (Infosecurity Magazine, Jun 01 2021)
Cyber-criminal who scammed US companies out of millions is convicted by federal jury

Using Fake Reviews to Find Dangerous Extensions (Krebs on Security, May 29 2021)
Fake, positive reviews have infiltrated nearly every corner of life online these days, confusing consumers while offering an unwelcome advantage to fraudsters and sub-par products everywhere. Happily, identifying and tracking these fake reviewer accounts is often the easiest way to spot scams. Here’s the story of how bogus reviews on a counterfeit Microsoft Authenticator browser extension exposed dozens of other extensions that siphoned personal and financial data.

Fraud and security departments converge on battle against ‘synthetic identities’ (SC Media, May 27 2021)
The Federal Reserve recently produced a formal definition for synthetic identity fraud, a process that involved a committee of a dozen outside experts convening over nine months. So what is it? And why should CISOs care?


Filter Out the Noise
Since I started this curated security news in June 2017, I’ve clipped ~19,000 articles and narrowed them down into the best 20 per day & best 15 per week. This is my favorite way to cut through all the security marketing and hype. If you’re enjoying it, tell a friend. If you hate it, tell an enemy.
Thanks! – Lucas Samaras

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It’s time to shift from verifying data to authenticating identity (Help Net Security, May 28 2021)
As fraudsters continue to develop increasingly sophisticated schemes that allow them to produce an apparent valid identity, either by stealing personal data or fabricating it themselves, organizations need to make a fundamental shift in their fraud-fighting strategies. Rather than performing authentication through a series of data point verifications, they should instead examine the linkages between all the identity markers holistically over time.

Interpol Seizes $83 Million Headed for Online Scammers (Infosecurity Magazine, Jun 01 2021)
APAC’s six-month HAECHI-I operation branded a success

Three takeaways from three years of GDPR (SC Media, Jun 01 2021)
Today’s columnist, Chad Gross of A-LIGN, reflects on the progess the industy has made with data privacy since GDPR went into effect three years ago.

Congress Struggles to Control Facial Recognition (eWEEK, Jun 01 2021)
Have you ever walked up to someone at a cocktail party (remember those?) you thought you knew, started talking, only to realize that wasn’t who you thought it was? Chances are you have. And that alone illustrates a major challenge to a burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, facial recognition.

Visa invests in LoginID to accelerate FIDO-certified biometric authentication (Help Net Security, Jun 01 2021)
LoginID announced additional investment from Visa on the heels of its $6M seed round from veteran payment and fintech entrepreneurs. The investment amount from Visa is undisclosed. Customers are readily accepting the use of biometrics to make payments and other transactions in a secure and convenient way. According to an April 2021 pymnts.com report, 18 billion payment transactions will be verified using biometrics in 2021.

Banking Fraud up 159% as Transactions Hit Pre-Pandemic Volumes (Infosecurity Magazine, Jun 02 2021)
Banking fraud attempts soared in 2021 as scammers sought to hide their attack in legitimate online activity