Remote Working During Coronavirus Increases the Risk of Fraud

Remote Working During the Coronavirus Pandemic Increases the Risk of Fraud and Cyberattacks

The pandemic has forced many companies to switch to working at home, an option which isn’t free from risks and the threat of cyberattacks

GDS Modellica provides software to help manage risks, combat fraud and build profitable relationships. Investment in risk management is no trivial matter: assessing and monitoring market risks, automating tasks and combatting fraud are the best way to guarantee effective, optimised processes

Many companies have been forced to use remote working as a means of continued operation during the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen businesses close and people suddenly confined to their homes. Asking employees to work from home has been the chosen survival strategy to continue providing effective and optimal services to customers, but it is also an open window for fraudsters, with laptops and devices, most of them personal, becoming an easy target.

According to the IMF Business School, Spain has seen the fourth-largest increase in cyberattacks in the world during the pandemic. Because of the anonymity it provides, the internet is the ideal refuge for bold yet sophisticated cybercriminals who see a chance for financial gain at the expense of unprotected users. Neither public nor private companies have been safe, and public authorities, the health service and financial services have been the biggest targets.

Cybercriminals have taken advantage of the vulnerability of many personal devices to infect them, obtain information or steal or manipulate their data. And this is far from over; as companies continue to use remote working during the ‘new normality’, without implementing cybersecurity measures, this cybercrime has continued to flourish.

All of this means that companies need to protect themselves, investing and developing not just in their digital transformation but in areas such as security and risk management. And the best way to do this is with the help of specific companies like GDS Modellica, who can help ensure guaranteed risk management and compliance without increasing the load on operations. According to Antonio García Rouco, director at GDS Modellica, banks lose billions every year as a result of fraudsters using stolen personal data to create new accounts and commit fraud. Despite the number of guarantees in force, banks are more exposed to fraud than ever, partly due to the growing number of channels that customers use to access their financial data, such as online banking and mobile apps. In the battle against fraud, financial institutions need to have better tools that are properly integrated across their whole business to successfully beat scammers.

For financial organisations, it can be an arduous, thankless and complicated task to solve the problem when an account is opened using fraudulent or falsified information. But this isn’t the case with GDS Modellica’s MODELLICA Fraud Engine solution. As García Rouco explains, “When customers access their accounts online, it’s difficult to identify and verify them across the different channels and devices. MODELLICA Fraud Engine is a solution based on the best current practices, integrating different systems to identify and validate multiple “online” and “offline” identifiers for individuals. Fraud Engine can provide companies with a single view of a person’s identity to help acquire new customers, detect fraud, improve security and build trust as part on their digital transformation journey”.