News Roundup 6/12: Test your knowledge of last week’s fraud headlines!

Have you been paying attention to the fraud and abuse headlines? Time to test your knowledge! See if you can fill in the blanks below. Don’t forget to check your answers when you’re done.

Fill in the blanks!

1. A recent Payments Canada survey suggests that half of Canadians are ready to give up ____.

2. Venezuelan activists and their international allies are falling prey to a new kind of hack called a(n) ____ attack.

3. Due to an increase in account takeover attacks and Internet of Things (IoT) security concerns, the  number of ____ rose 15% this year.

Let’s check your answers! How’d you do?

1. A recent Payments Canada survey suggests that half of Canadians are ready to give up cash.

According to a new survey from Payments Canada, 50% of Canadians are prepared to eschew banknotes and coins in favor of noncash methods. And even more people – two-thirds of those surveyed – are ready to give up personal checks. For years, Canada has lead the way in the digital payments revolution; a previous study revealed that a whopping 90% of Canadian payments are made through noncash methods.

2. Venezuelan activists and their international allies are falling prey to a new kind of hack called a DoubleSwitch attack.

Here’s how DoubleSwitch works. Fraudsters start by committing account takeover, usually seizing a victim’s social media account. Once the account has been commandeered, the fraudster will change the name on the social media account and establish a new account using the original screen name and profile picture. When the victim tries to recover their account, they’ll run into a problem: their screen name will have been registered to the fraudster’s email address.

Fraudsters often use DoubleSwitch attacks to sow confusion among activist groups. Once they’ve performed the maneuver, they’ll often flood social media feeds with dangerous misinformation.

3. Due to an increase in account takeover attacks and Internet of Things (IoT) security concerns, the  number of CISOs (chief information security officers) rose 15% this year.

Last year, just half of all organizations surveyed around the globe had CISOs – but this year, that number has climbed to 65%. In many cases, businesses appointed CISOs in response to concerns about how the IoT might impact security, or the a sharp rise in account takeover attacks.

But the ISACA, the organization that produced the survey, cautions us against getting too excited. Rob Clyde, who’s on the ISACA board of directors, says that in some cases, “companies are doing a little window dressing and taking their security director and now calling him a CISO.”