Social Media is Being Increasingly Used to Target Brands According to Report

Social media has become a haven for fraudsters and hackers. As a matter of fact, it was estimated that about 53% of all logins on social media were fraudulent and that 25% of new accounts were created by fraudsters according to Arkose Lab’s Q3 Fraud and Abuse Report.

While digital growth and the digital economy has opened up the marketplace and made us all more interconnected, it also comes at a price. It is now easier for fraudsters as well to connect and organise coordinated attacks. Let’s take a look at some of the facts transpiring from this report, and steps businesses can take to protect their brand and information online.

One Out of Ten Transactions is an Attack

Arkose Labs analysed a grand total of 1.2 billion transactions as part of their study. This included logins, payments, and registrations for travel, social media, financial services, entertainment and gaming industries. They gathered this information in real-time to get great insight on the current threat landscape.

What they found was that one out of every ten transactions were malicious in nature. These were either coming from humans or automated bots.

“We’re currently living in an era where online identity, metrics, content, intent and business can be easily forged. This can have severe repercussions for any sort of business who has an online presence.” Said Arkose Labs CEO Kevin Gosschalk. “The risk landscape for business is becoming more complex since attackers now have easier access to powerful and more sophisticated tools. This allows them to adjust their attack patterns as much as they want as long as their operations remain profitable.”

The Main Offenders

According to the study, Indonesia, the US, the Philippines, Russia, and the UK have all emerged as top originating countries for attacks, with the Philippines coming at number one for both human and automated driven attacks. The US came second.

Attacks could range from blocking seats on an airline flight to using scripted attacks to swipe customer data or inventory.

Social Media Attacks are on the Rise

Social media is playing an increasingly important role in the economy,but they’re also one of the biggest tools for brand abuse. Creating false pages and coordinated attacks on brands is easier than ever, and very common.

One of the best things that companies who fear attacks and those who have been victims can do is to work with online brand protection services for businesses. These companies will be able to see where attacks are coming from and stop them at the source. They’ll also be able to find imposter pages fast and will be able to notify you if a suspicious profile has been created so you can take the steps necessary to take it down.

Social media has become a platform of choice for fraudsters from all over the globe who may want to gain important information on your business, your clientele, or hurt your reputation. Make sure that you know what type of danger you’re exposing yourself to, and use a good dose of vigilance and proactiveness to prevent attacks.