Enterprise Telecom Fraud Management

Telecommunications services are often taken for granted, but they have become more important than ever before. Whether it's for personal use or for a business, these services have become ubiquitous—and more important than ever before in our daily lives. Customers now expect connectivity at the touch of a finger, while also demanding increased account and data security.

The need for telecom services, as well as their prominence in our day-to-day lives as critical infrastructure, have made the industry a prime target for cybercriminals. Telecom companies have a large footprint, including individual user accounts and business endpoints, that can lead to a range of vulnerabilities that can be exploited to steal personal information, sensitive business data, and more.

2023 Cybercrime Prevention Playbook

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Common types of telecom fraud

International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF) and SMS Toll Fraud

IRSF, also called SMS toll fraud or SMS pumping, is a growing concern for businesses across industries. At its core, IRSF is often enabled by telecom resources and infrastructure to initiate unauthorized calls to premium numbers. These calls are then charged to the victim’s phone bill, resulting in significant financial losses. And when performed at scale, the costs for businesses can quickly rise to millions of dollars.

Session hijacking and Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks

Telecom networks can be vulnerable to cyberattacks, specifically session hijacking and man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. These attacks can compromise both network security and that of user accounts. One way cyber criminals can gain access to user accounts is by intercepting two-factor authentication codes as part of an MITM attack. This can lead to International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF) or SMS Toll fraud.

Phishing and social engineering attacks

For cybercriminals looking to gain access to user accounts, phishing and other social engineering attacks often provide their entryway. By creating fraudulent web pages or email messages that imitate popular telecom brands, cybercriminals can trick unsuspecting customers into providing their login credentials, credit card numbers, and more. In the instance of a user providing their login credentials, these accounts can be taken (ATO) over by cybercriminals and used for downstream attacks and fraud or sold on the dark web.

How telecoms can stay secure

The threats facing the telecom aren’t going away anytime soon, unfortunately. That said, telecom businesses have a strong partner in Arkose Labs. Arkose Labs removes the economic incentive to cybercrime by sabotaging attackers’ ROI and rendering the threat impractical and unaffordable. This is a fundamental shift from prevention to cybercrime deterrence.

Global enterprises trust Arkose Labs for attack detection and prevention while protecting the user authentication touchpoints that are often targeted by threat actors. By rooting out cybercrime early, and stopping it at targeted entryways, businesses are able to strengthen relationships with customers by offering an increasingly secure platform without sacrificing a positive user experience.

If you want to learn more about how Arkose Labs secures businesses from advanced and automated threats like bots, book a meeting today.