New research from Mercator Advisory Group examines increased global cyber threat, payments fraud, and how to manage the risks. Cybercrime is a global and growing phenomenon tied to a combination of factors that includes the new era of global economic interdependency along with rapidly changing technology, according to a new research report from Mercator Advisory Group. These factors create opportunities for criminals to find new and often faster ways to defraud businesses of all sizes. Data breaches will inevitably lead to follow-on activities that take advantage of people, holes in processes, and cracks in systems to transfer wealth from legitimate sources to fraudsters across the globe. A range of activities can be undertaken by companies to create better protective cover around organizational data and prevent or limit the damage from payments fraud.

1. The Enemy at the Gates:
Payments Fraud Is a Symptom
February 2017

2. 2017 Mercator Advisory Group
Cybercrime is a global and growing phenomenon tied to a combination of
factors that includes the new era of global economic interdependency along
with rapidly changing technology, according to a new research report from
Mercator Advisory Group. These factors create opportunities for criminals to
find new and often faster ways to defraud businesses of all sizes. Data
breaches will inevitably lead to follow-on activities that take advantage of
people, holes in processes, and cracks in systems to transfer wealth from
legitimate sources to fraudsters across the globe. A range of activities can
be undertaken by companies to create better protective cover around
organizational data and prevent or limit the damage from payments fraud.
New research from Mercator Advisory Group examines increased
global cyber threat, payments fraud, and how to manage the risks

3. 2017 Mercator Advisory Group
In a new research report, The Enemy at the Gates: Payments Fraud Is a
Symptom, Mercator Advisory Group discusses the increased cyber threat
faced by financial institutions and their clients and how that helps to create
opportunities for payments fraud schemes. Payments fraud is a symptom of
the broader issue of cybercrime, but it can also be somewhat independently
controlled or minimized. In this report Mercator reviews the underlying
issues around the global fraud threat and their relation to payments fraud
and identifies actions that financial institutions and their clients can take to
help manage the threat going forward.
Payments fraud is one clear symptom of the greater cyber threats
now plaguing the industrialized world

4. 2017 Mercator Advisory Group
"The cost of dealing with fraud incidents goes beyond the actual financial loss, with
aftershocks ranging from client dissatisfaction to damaging reputational hits,
something of particular concern to financial institutions given follow-on regulatory
actions,” commented Steve Murphy, Director of Mercator Advisory Group’s
Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service and author of the
report. “Managing the threat requires a series of actions including process controls
and systems deployment to identify, prevent, and limit the damage.”
Steve Murphy
Director
Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service
Mercator Advisory Group

5. 2017 Mercator Advisory Group
Highlights of the research report:
• Reasons for the increased cyber threat and resulting potential
economic impact
• A discussion of the extra costs associated with data breaches, going
beyond actual financial losses
• Trends in payments fraud and reasons for the recent incidence uptick
• A view of the vendor landscape of technology and services solution
providers
• Methods that companies can use to combat payments fraud, including
using external partners

6. ©2017 Mercator Advisory Group
One of the 6 exhibits in this research report:
Figure 3: Payments Method Subject to Actual or Attempted Fraud,
2015
71%
48%
39%
25%
11%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Actual or Attempted Fraud by Payment Type, 2015
Checks Wire Transfers Commercial Cards ACH Debits ACH Credits
1
© 2017 Mercator Advisory Group
Source: 2016 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey
This is an
increase from
only 13% in 2013

7. About the research report:
2017 Mercator Advisory Group
The research note is 18 pages long and contains 6 exhibits.
Companies mentioned in this document include ACI, BAE Systems, Cisco, CSC,
CyberSource, Experian, FICO, FIS, Fiserv, Guardian Analytics, HPE, IBM, Intel,
Microsoft, and Verizon.
Members of Mercator Advisory Group's Commercial and Enterprise Payments
Advisory Service have access to this research report as well as the upcoming
research for the year ahead, presentations, analyst access, and other membership
benefits.
Please visit us online at www.mercatoradvisorygroup.com.
For more information and media inquiries, please call Mercator Advisory Group's
main line: 1-781-419-1700; send email to media@mercatoradvisorygroup.
For free industry news, opinions, research, company information and more visit us at
www.PaymentsJournal.com.
Follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/MercatorAdvisor.

8. About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading independent research and advisory
services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We
deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients
uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and
contain costs.
Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers,
processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and
investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments
and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.
2017 Mercator Advisory Group