Las Vegas Conference 2012 - Greg Goeckner, MRC: "Mobile payment security -the most critical issue on our radar"

Your role as Executive Director of MRC gives you a great deal of insight into the main issues facing online merchants. Could you mention some of these issues and how can they be prevented?

With all of the recent economic changes in the US and Europe, many e-Commerce merchants now look at cross-border commerce to expand revenues. While international business expansion plans often call for quick action, implementing efficient international payment and fraud solutions in short timeframes can be challenging. Venturing into cross-border e-Commerce means understanding and applying different payment methods, responding to new fraud threats, and incorporating different business norms into operations. We present many programs aimed at helping merchants meet these challenges while expanding into new markets.

Successful cyber attacks continue to plague well-known governmental and private entities, at times resulting in the release of sensitive consumer and payment data that is used to defraud the e-Commerce sector. Of course, the main objective of our industry is to prevent the online misuse of consumers’ data. Our members continually are developing and implementing new techniques to promote efficient online payments processing and to prevent the misuse of consumer data for online fraud. Our conferences and educational opportunities are focused on those efforts and our recently expanded industry awards seek to highlight the best new innovations by both merchants and solution providers in this ongoing battle to make e-Commerce efficient and safe.

How can the MRC, in collaboration with its members, ensure the efficiency, safety and profitability of electronic commerce?

First, at a minimum, the e-Commerce industry must be as organized as the fraudsters that challenge us. For example, fraudsters have forums and networks to exchange information, train themselves with how-to manuals and even organize conferences! The MRC offers a unique counterbalance by unifying leading e-Commerce fraud prevention professionals, maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders in the industry, and providing merchants the networking, cutting edge education and early alerts on new trends to counter these threats.

When it comes to payments, there tends to be some confusion in the marketplace regarding the numerous alternative payments schemes being launched every day and the growing forms of mobile payments. This is especially true when dealing with cross-border e-Commerce. The MRC’s programs aim to bring clarity and up to date information on these developments.

What are the key trends in e-Commerce Payment and related fraud? Are they the same in all regions?

Traditionally, data analytics in the US market have been very efficient, given the broad range of consumer data available. This has helped our industry efficiently control and reduce fraud. US merchants also have received strong support from the FBI, the US Secret service and other law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of fraud schemes. On the payment side, the US market has always been fairly standard, with an emphasis on reducing payment acceptance costs.

Conversely, in Europe, the lack of available data has been one of the main difficulties for the industry. Data protection laws, meant to protect consumers, also have protected fraudsters. Fortunately, some new European data protection initiatives seem to take crime prevention seriously. And European merchants, especially those affiliated with MRC, are getting quite good at understanding the consumer preferences for payment options at check-out, which may vary by country, sector and culture. The MRC has key national members in every country in Europe that are happy to suggest local best practices.

Any new developments that have been presented during the MRC conference in Las Vegas?

In Autumn 2010, MRC warned our Austin conference attendees that attacks and  data breaches were coming…and they did in February 2011! Last month at our at our Las Vegas conference, there was a considerable focus on the likelihood of organized attacks on mobile payments erupting over the summer. Consumers currently do not pay attention to their mobile devices’ security features, putting into danger data entered at check-out in an e-Commerce transaction. Mobile payment security will be one of the most critical issues on our radar in the coming months.

Our keynote speakers, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and the worlds former most wanted computer hacker, Kevin Mitnick, helped created awareness of online and mobile payment fraud. Also, our METAwards finalists shared a glimpse of emerging technologies being employed to fight against these fraudulent transactions.

Finally, the economic environment is pushing fraud and payment professionals to position themselves as a profit center rather than a cost center in their business. Our Merchant Spotlight winner, Skype, shared a fantastic presentation on fine-tuning a fraud prevention business model, which may be extremely profitable and even increase sales, thanks to the reduction of false positives.

Cybercrime has become a rapidly growing phenomenon over recent years. In your opinion, where should mitigation efforts be focused and what can corporate and federal authorities do to slow down cybercrime?

In a perfect world, allowing data-sharing between merchants, solution providers and law enforcement to prevent and respond to fraud is key. The primary objective of privacy protection is to protect consumers and this would directly meet that objective. Public-private collaboration against crime gives a great advantage to legitimate businesses, to law enforcement – and to consumers.

Much has been written about the potential impact cybercrime (in its various forms) could have on consumers, but online businesses are just as vulnerable to being targeted by fraudsters. In this context, what measures should businesses implement to respond effectively to the growing exploitation of the internet by organized criminals?

Consumers are protected when they become a victim of cybercrime in an e-Commerce transaction. However, they still have to go through the time-consuming process of dealing with their issuing bank and demonstrating that they are a victim of fraud. E-Commerce merchants take the brunt of cybercrime. The MRC promotes corporate responsibility by payment data holders (PCI compliance, for example) and encourages stakeholders to create more consumer awareness about security.

The future of fraud prevention will largely depend on …..

Governments must be serious about prosecuting e-criminals. The total cost of e-crime is similar or higher than the total cost of shoplifting, but the amount of law enforcement resources dedicated to e-crime is not comparable. Law enforcement teams tasked with countering massive cross-border organized electronic crime schemes need the resources to take on these criminals.

MRC in Europe; what are the top three reasons for European merchants not to miss the upcoming MRC conference in Dublin?

In Europe, MRC is the only organization where payment and fraud prevention professionals can meet, network, be educated, learn best practices, benchmark their business models and interact with government officials and law enforcement agencies, such as Scotland Yard and the US Secret Service. MRC’s Dublin conference is focused on European issues for European e-Commerce, payments and risk professionals.

Any serious e-Commerce merchant company concerned about the challenging economic times and ongoing security issues should attend. Over 150 top merchants will be there, from Adidas to Zynga. We have reached our goal of over 300 attendees and have increased our capacity to accommodate the strong interest that our Dublin conference has generated.