Experts from the
Arkose Labs Network have released a report,
The 2022 State of Fraud and Account Security, warning UK commerce that it faces its most challenging year ever.
Arkose Labs is an online fraud deterrence platform. The company’s experts analysed over 150 billion transaction requests across 254 countries and territories in 2021 over 12 months to discover that there has been an 85% increase in login attacks and fake consumer account creation at businesses. Alongside this, it identified that a quarter (one in four) of new online accounts created were fake. A further 21% of all traffic was confirmed as a fraudulent cyberattack.
The new report focused on a number of key themes:
- The worst attacked sectors in the UK
The latest research took a deep dive into UK business specifically to understand which sectors were the most attacked by online criminals. The ongoing popularity of online gaming puts it top of the list for fraudsters with almost half (46%) of all the attacks in the UK, as seen by Arkose Labs. Digital media companies (social networks and online streaming platforms) are also high value targets and represent a third of all attacks, seeing an 88% increase since 2020. Across all sectors including ecommerce/retail, travel, gaming, financial services, one in every four new online accounts created were fake throughout 2021.
- Metaverse companies are more likely to be targeted by ‘Master Fraudsters’
The rise of virtual worlds has created new attack opportunities for bad actors. Early insights from the Arkose Labs Network show scams, microtransaction abuse, and unfair play are the top threats in a metaverse world. These companies experienced 80 percent more bot attacks and 40 percent more human attacks than other businesses. ‘Master Fraudsters’ attack their targets by scripting together multiple tools with intense persistence. They combine bots and human fraud farms, and invest large amounts of capital, creating virulent attacks. Top attack patterns Master Fraudsters use to disrupt fair commerce include microtransaction fraud, spam, and scams.
- Crypto-fraud sees Asia overtake Russia as the world leading attacking region
In prior years, Russian attacks were more common, but in 2021, attackers from Asia took the top spot, with 40 percent of all attacks coming from this region. One in every two Asian attacks originated from China. Leveraging an ecosystem of tools and low-cost resources, two-thirds of Chinese attacks targeted registration, primarily driven by abusing free trials at cloud computing platforms for crypto mining.
- Credential Stuffing attacks see a significant spike
Attacks are more volatile than ever. A single attack can consume nearly 80 percent of traffic at peak periods, and in 2021, credential stuffing spikes hit up to 76 million per week. Attack rates doubled during peak season in November, making it the most dangerous month in 2021. Bots were used almost exclusively in Black November.
Attackers have continued to invest in increasingly sophisticated bots. Bots mimic human behaviour with a high degree of accuracy and in 2021 accounted for 86 percent of all attacks. Today’s bot signatures are three times more complex than signatures of previous years. This level of sophistication makes it more difficult to assess risk and make accurate decisions. Businesses require even more sophisticated analysis to detect anomalies and prevent loss.
Arkose Labs provides support for brands and platforms including Honey, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PayPal, Pitney Bowes, Roblox, Venmo, and Zilch, covering industries including financial services, fintech, gaming, retail, technology, and social media, representing more than 1 billion social media users, 60 percent of online video gamers, and 40 percent of all retail volume.
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