Summer School for Fraud Leaders: Four Hot Topics to Study
As fraud attacks grow more sophisticated, staying up to date on fraudsters’ latest innovations and tactics is more critical than ever. Summer brings beach days and sunshine, but for fraud leaders, it’s also the perfect season to deepen their knowledge of evolving threats.
Below are the resources I frequently share with leaders who want to learn more about the trends dominating the industry. Whether you’re poolside or in the office, this reading list will bring you up to speed on today’s hottest topics and prepare you for what lies ahead in the second half of the year.
Topic #1: Evolving Bot Attacks
Topic #3: Shifting Seasonal Trends
Topic #4: Advanced Attack Strategies
Topic #1: Evolving Bot Attacks
Today’s fraud bots are smarter, harder to detect, and are being deployed at unprecedented scale. Understanding how modern bots operate is the first step in building defenses that can keep up.
What to Study this Summer:
- Read: “Fighting the Future of Fraud: Understanding and Combating Next-Gen Bots”: In this report, learn how these bots differ from those of the past, how modern bots beat traditional defenses, and why upgrading bot detection solutions is a must in today’s fraud landscape.
- Watch: “Fraud Bot Future Shock: How to Spot and Stop Next-Gen Attacks”: Nash Ali, Head of Operational Strategy at NeuroID, and Mike Thibodeaux, VP of Fraud Solutioning at Experian, sit down to discuss the evolution of fraud bots. They share real-world examples of bot behavior and how NeuroID and Experian are fighting back.
- Try it yourself: “Creating a Fraud Bot is Easy. Stopping one is Harder.”: Not only are bots more sophisticated and difficult to detect, but they’re easier to create and deploy than ever, resulting in more frequent, larger attacks. This blog highlights a brief example of how GenAI tools can quickly create bot scripts (and gives you the prompts to try fraudsters’ tactics yourself).
Topic #2: The Impact of GenAI
GenAI has opened new doors for innovation — and fraudsters are taking full advantage of it. From convincing scams to automated bot attacks, GenAI is scaling and tailoring attacks with a remarkable degree of sophistication.
What to Study this Summer:
- Read: “How GenAI Supercharges Fraud — and How to Fight Back”: We published this piece in the early days of the GenAI craze, but I still send it to fraud professionals who want to learn more about GenAI’s impact on fraud attacks. It’s a great primer for anyone who’s still trying to wrap their brain around what GenAI is capable of.
- Watch: “Disrupting GenAI in Fraud”: This webinar goes a step further: how should fraud leaders fight back against GenAI-powered attacks? Join Nash Ali and Kathleen Peters, Chief Innovation Officer at Experian, for actionable insights to defend against GenAI-powered attacks.
- See into the (not-so-distant) future: “What 25,000 Bots Taught Me About GenAI in Fraud”: This blog dives into a recent attack — one unlike anything we’ve seen before — to show just how dangerous GenAI has become.
Topic #3: Shifting Seasonal Trends
Fraudsters are always looking to attack, but some seasons offer more opportunities than others. Understanding seasonal patterns (and how they’re changing) can help teams anticipate and prepare for what’s next.
What to Study this Summer:
- Read: “The Fraudster’s Almanac”: This report walks through the calendar, laying out the data and trends to watch in winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Read it to learn what to watch for and how to approach each season.
- Watch: “Seasonal Fraud Forecasting: Strategies for Year-Round Agile Detection”: This all-star webinar brings together three experienced industry leaders — Nash Ali, Sowmya Saiprasad, VP, Head of Client & Product Solutions at Visa Direct, and Brian Russell, former SVP of Identity and Authentication at U.S. Bank — to discuss the driving forces behind seasonal trends.
- See what’s changing: “The Bot Workers Powering the 24/7/365 Fraud Factory”: Many of the same seasonal principles remain true, but GenAI and evolving bots have caused some seismic shifts in what fraud leaders should expect throughout the year. This blog shares what changed, why, and what fraud leaders should do in response.
- (Extra credit) Get ready for the fall: “3 Reasons Why Fall is the Ideal Time to Trial New Fraud Tech”: Back-to-school sales and early holiday shopping make fall a magnet for fraudsters. But there’s a silver lining: the increased traffic gives fraud teams a chance to test their controls and see how they hold up before the high-risk winter.
Topic #4: Advanced Attack Strategies
Fraudsters strategize as much as businesses do. They scout their targets, tailor their attacks, and are ready to adapt on the fly to avoid detection. If you don’t know how to spot an attack — both before it happens and while it’s in progress — you may not be able to stop it until it’s too late.
What to Study this Summer:
- Read: “Deception by Design: How Fraudsters Fool Your Fraud Team”: This infographic puts two real-world attacks side-by-side to show just how deceptive fraudsters can be. Before you begin reading, take a glance at the graphs and see what you can decipher from them — then go further to find out if you were fooled by fraudsters.
- Watch: “Fraud Fighters Boot Camp”: Our three-part video series brings experts together to discuss today’s most dangerous fraud attack strategies. Each episode uncovers an increasingly sophisticated plan of attack — watch them all to learn what to look out for and how to stay ahead.
- Take a deep dive: “The Fraud Attack Strategy Guide”: In this report, you’ll see the same attack strategies covered in the resources above. But if you’re especially interested in the data behind them and the best counters to fraudsters tactics, this report is for you.
Stay In the Know
The list above covers a handful of the challenges facing today’s fraud leaders, but there’s always more to learn — and more for us to share.
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