Los Altos, Calif., Sept. 24, 2009 -PIN Payments News Blog- Guardian Analytics, a provider of fraud prevention software for the financial services industry, is advising businesses on the risks of Internet banking, and how they can protect their companies from becoming a victim of online banking fraud.

The need for businesses to examine their online business banking practices has never been more important.



In August alone, the FDIC, NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association, and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) all published alerts warning about rising Internet threats to businesses. Analyst firm Gartner issued a report on the issue in August, and last week the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a special hearing to discuss cybercriminals targeting small- and medium- sized businesses. Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., have also started drafting legislation to address this as well as other cyber security issues, and is working to bring public and private organizations together to spearhead the initiative.

"In the last several weeks, business banking fraud has become a dominant discussion point in the financial and security industries," said Avivah Litan, VP and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "With cybercriminals circumventing strong authentication and using sophisticated reconnaissance on accounts during the attacks, increased fraud awareness has never been more important."

Terry Austin, Guardian Analytics CEO, provides the following advice to entrepreneurs to protect their companies against online banking fraud:

1. Be aware of your financial rights: If your business becomes the victim
   
   of online business banking fraud, you have fewer rights than you do as
   
   an individual. Regulation E of the Federal Electronic Funds Transfer
   
   Act requires banks to reimburse consumer fraud victims within 10 days
   
   of a fraud report, but it does not protect businesses the same way it
   
   protects individual accounts. Ask your bank what their policies are on
   
   protecting business accounts.
   
   


2. Ask your bank to increase investment in protection technologies: Your bank's online account platform is only as secure as the technology  behind it. 
   
   
   
   Ask your bank if they have a proactive online banking fraud
   
   monitoring system in place to detect suspicious account activity and
   
   how they are responding to the recent alerts. Despite increased
   
   regulations, many financial institutions still have not implemented the
   
   technologies beyond authentication that are necessary to fight today's
   
   sophisticated threats.
   
   


3. Update your anti-malware software and firewalls: Not keeping your
   
   anti-malware and firewalls updated is a huge risk for anyone, and even
   
   more so when it could jeopardize your businesses' entire financial
   
   health. Still, know that your business can fall victim even with
   
   updated computer security protection.
   
   


4. Monitor for irregularities and missing funds: It is imperative for any
   
   business to always be on the lookout for anything abnormal occurring in
   
   its account/s. Many banks offer transaction alerts so customers can be
   
   notified of important account activity, so ask your bank about this
   
   service.


5. Educate your financial managers on the threats: Forward the latest
   
   advisories on to whoever manages your online business banking accounts.
   
   If anyone needs to know about the threats, it is the person closest to
   
   your online banking account/s, whether that is the CEO, CFO, or
   
   accountant.
   
   
   
   
   
   About Guardian Analytics
   
   
   
   Headquartered in Los Altos, Calif., Guardian Analytics is focused on the prevention of online account fraud. The company's real-time risk management approach to fraud detection, forensics and risk monitoring is built on strong analytics and predictive models of individual behavior. Leading financial services institutions rely on Guardian Analytics to protect individual account assets and the integrity of their online channels. Founded in 2005, Guardian Analytics is privately held with venture funding from Foundation Capital. For more information, please visit www.guardiananalytics.com .
   
   
   
   Source: Company press release.