Public Data Access for Fraud Prevention – Data is everywhere around us. Everytime we have an interaction with someone or something we leave and collect bits of data. That can be during a conversation with a friend, browsing a website online, shopping, working or even playing a game. It is unavoidable as everything generates data, from us, our devices and machines.

What is important is how that data will be used. Truth is that most of the time the data you leave or collect will remain unused, while in fact when used properly can make a big difference towards the business success and its protection from fraud. In this article we’ll have a look at SEON’s view on OSINT, and see how it is a perfect tool to help online businesses in avoiding information overload.

Not only that having a right data set can help businesses to learn more about their customers and develop target marketing strategies, but it can help them predict fraudulent behavior and stop the fraud attempt before it can do any serious damage. Even though business leaders understand the importance of the data, and how essential it is for the success of their business, they are not sure where or how to start. It gets even more difficult when considering the amount of data that is generated on a daily basis. This is where public data and open-source intelligence come to help.

What is public data access and open-source intelligence?

Under the public data is considered all data that is freely available to anyone without any legal usage or access restrictions. The amount of this data is enormous which is why it is hard for the businesses or organizations to use it in a way that will help protect their business from fraud. Cybersecurity is critical in today’s world where cybercriminals are sophisticated and relentless in their attacks. By using Open Source Intelligence or OSINT for short, that becomes easier and less frightening. But what exactly is OSINT?

Open Source Intelligence is a process of collecting publicly available information and using it in order to learn more about somebody or about business. Usually businesses have only access to their internal data to base their decisions on, with the addition of possible use of search engines, but with OSINT they get the access to all of the third-party data that isn’t indexed by search engines.

By combining multiple resources and techniques to cross-reference information, businesses are able to:

  • Improve the customer satisfaction
  • Improve marketing strategy
  • Improve data analysis
  • Learn more about the customers
  • Identify fraudulent behavioral patterns
  • Prevent fraudulent actions
  • Improve cybersecurity

How to use OSINT for fraud prevention?

OSINT tools and techniques are irreplaceable in cybersecurity, as they can help you learn more about your customers without causing user friction. By using this knowledge business can identify standard user behavior and recognize any discrepancies as they arise that might indicate fraud.

This can also help businesses to make more informed decisions when it comes to:

  • accepting a CNP (card not present) transaction
  • accepting the gift card sale
  • approving the loan
  • accepting new users on platform
  • confirming customer’s identity
  • hiring new employees

Knowledge is power and the more usable data you have you can bring right decisions when it comes to protecting your business.

Just by using the details your customer has provided it would be hard to confirm if they are who they say they are as there is nothing you can check their data against and almost impossible to prevent card not present fraud, gift card fraud, account takeover, identity theft or any other type of fraudulent activity. With open source intelligence you can enrich the raw data you have with additional information collected from third party sources and notice any red flags that might indicate fraud attempt.

For example, the user will only provide you with their email but you can use tools at hand to gather more information about that email so you can get a clearer picture about the user’s intent. Maybe their email was just created or it is not connected to any social media platforms, maybe it was involved in a data breach or is it on spam or fraud blacklist? These are all red flags that indicate fraudulent behaviors and require further actions.

Use OSINT as a base of your cybersecurity system and protect your business from fraud before it can cause significant damage.