Tag: vpn
A Deluge of Powerful Fraud Tactics Are Giving Businesses Trust Issues
It feels like fraudsters are consistently staying one step ahead of us. Back in early 2022, a study found that one out of every four accounts made online was fake—and that number has only gotten worse. The auto lending industry, for example, saw a staggering $7.9 billion in losses due to a 98% spike in synthetic fraud in 2023. They’re not alone in fending off more fraud attempts than ever as malicious actors turn to generative artificial intelligence to increase both the sophistication and the sheer number of fake accounts trying to bypass verification steps and swindle businesses. The increase we’ve seen in synthetic identities is causing a new host of problems. Not only are more businesses finding themselves with fake customers in their systems—financial institutions mistakenly giving credit to synthetic identities, colleges and universities grappling with applications from fake students, and more—but some of the measures being taken to tamp down on fraudsters’ relentless advances have had the unfortunate side effect of pushing away legitimate customers.
Rise in ‘brute force’ attacks on VPNs
The past four weeks have seen a sharp global increase in ‘brute force’ attacks on virtual private network (VPN) services, which supply private networks using encryption over the internet. ‘Brute force’ attacks use trial and error to crack passwords, login credentials, and encryption keys. New life has been breathed into what is an old hacking technique with widely available software using artificial intelligence (AI) that can carry out large numbers of attempts automatically. Cisco Talos Intelligence Group reports a sharp rise worldwide in this type of attack against targets, including virtual private network (VPN) services and web authentication interfaces. “Cisco Talos has been actively monitoring a global increase in brute-force attacks against a variety of targets, including Virtual Private Network (VPN) services, web application authentication interfaces, and SSH services since at least March 18, 2024. The traffic related to these attacks has increased with time and is likely to continue to rise,” predicts Cisco Talos