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Mobile industry needs to confront fraud to enable mobile commerce sector to grow

On April 2, 2011   /   Crime, Mobile Security, Money and Business   /   Leave a comment

BillingScore today announced that the UK mobile industry is losing up to £140million a year on premium rate fraud. By not tackling this issue, the UK’s mobile operators are leaving themselves exposed to a massive risk and it is consumers and retailers that are paying the ultimate price.

The problem of fraud is set to get worse as mobile purchasing becomes even more prevalent through the rise of in-app payments and near field communications (NFC) payments.

“Premium rate fraudsters in the UK are cheating the mobile industry out of more than the biggest ever Euromillions lottery win – every single year! We need to stop this money going into their back pockets, and use it instead to improve mobile networks or lower mobile bills for customers,” said Teresa Cottam, Research Director, Telesperience.

The £140m per year cost of fraud affects not only the mobile operators, but all the players in the mobile industry, from SMS wholesalers and aggregators, through to content providers and ultimately retailers and their consumers. One of the reasons that operators take such a significant cut from operator billing (around 30%) is to cover fraud and bad debt. Yet the size of the operator cut can make mobile seem like an uncompetitive payment method – reducing the industry’s opportunity to further own the consumer’s wallet.

“Everyone in the mobile industry knows that fraud, bad debt and other types of revenue loss are a major issue – yet hardly anyone talks about it,” commented Cottam. “The scale of the problem is hidden and the cost built into existing business models. The mobile sector simply cannot afford to continue haemorrhaging money in this way; nor can it keep hitting honest customers in the pocket in the form of higher charges, simply because it has failed to address the losses.”

Cottam continued, “What’s worse, a range of new risks mean that the mobile industry will become even more vulnerable to this type of revenue loss in future unless it acts now.”

Operator billing is expected to explode with the growth of App Stores, in-app payments and NFC, combined with the fact that many online retailers are considering mobile commerce as an additional sales channel. Revenue from in-app payments, for example, is predicted to grow by 600% this year. The problem of mobile payment fraud – and the associated cost to the industry – is only going to get bigger unless steps are put in place to prevent it.

Yet recent moves from the UK operators appear to be pushing the responsibility for fraud and bad debt onto the service providers, while restricting legitimate consumers from spending money.

The service providers and aggregators now have to take greater measures to restrict fraud as operators are to increase the ‘claw back’ if service providers allow customers to exceed arbitrary daily spending limits on premium rate services. This moves more risk to aggregators and service providers as well as affecting their business models. It also raises questions over whether services such as NFC-payments can ever truly replace the wallet if daily spend is to be capped by operators.

“Sticking your head in the sand and hoping the problem will go away is not a viable strategy for the operators,” continued Teresa Cottam of Telesperience. “Those who fail to act will see themselves increasingly targeted by fraudsters and will become ever-more uncompetitive due to unsustainable revenue losses and disgruntled customers.”

Providing protection for the millions of daily mobile payments transactions would see even faster adoption of mobile commerce by the wider mobile community, the retailing sector and consumers. Thereby creating more revenue opportunities for the entire mobile industry.

“Fraud is an issue that not only affects the operators, everyone involved in the mobile eco-system, including consumers, is affected by it,” said Chris Newell, CEO of BillingScore. “All of us within the UK mobile industry need to work together to help save the £140m that fraud is costing us each year. Then we need to work to address the billions of pounds that the fraudsters are getting away with globally each year.

“At BillingScore we can help service providers, aggregators and the operators to identify fraudulent activity and reduce the cost of fraud for the industry. We can help to make mobile payment a safer and more secure process,” Newell continued.

BillingScore assesses purchasing data in real-time, across a number of different data points and, using the proprietary algorithms developed through years of experience in the sector, can identify patterns and unusual behaviour that might indicate fraudulent behaviour. Currently used by service providers such as TxtLocal to monitor for Artificially Inflated Traffic (AIT) affecting premium rate traffic and mobile purchasing, the system provides a risk value for each transaction and can even block the transaction from taking place in real-time if it fails to meet the pre-set criteria.

BillingScore is keen to work with operators and the other players in the mobile purchasing sector to reduce the damaging impact of premium rate mobile fraud. Currently around £1 in every £5 spent is fraudulent activity. If the mobile industry can reduce fraud, it will provide a further boost for the mobile commerce sector as a whole. Not only will the operators be able to save money by restricting fraud, they will also be able to reduce the percentage they take as a transaction fee, encouraging more retailers to adopt mobile payments and increasing revenues for everyone involved in the sector.

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New Unmatched Cut Protection Ordinary Body Armour Cannot Offer

On February 10, 2011   /   Crime, Security News   /   Leave a comment

Cut-Tex® PRO, a blade cut resistance level 5 fabric is now being used to create a highly breathable t-shirt that offers unrivalled cut protection in areas ordinary body armour fail to protect.

Numerous security professionals, police officers, prison officers and other frontline professionals have suffered from cut wounds under their arms and on the sides of the upper body.

No ordinary body armour used by any of the above sectors offers protection in these areas, as commonly used materials would restrict movement and agility.

Robert Kaiser, CEO of PPSS Group, the company behind Cut-Tex® PRO said: “Many frontline staff by instinct will lift their arms and hands during a potential hostile situation, in order to protect the face and head.”

“However, we must acknowledge that this action would expose an extremely vulnerable area under your arms. A cut, injuring the auxiliary artery under your arms, can lead to rapid blood loss and even death.”

This new highly breathable t-shirt is made out of Coolmax® and only features the ultra high cut resistant fabric Cut-Tex® PRO on the entire sleeves part and over the 15cm wide vertical stretch on the sides of the upper body.

Attacks on frontline professionals are occurring rather frequently in this country. One unprovoked attack on prison officers at Frankland High Security Prison in Durham, UK, in 2010 left one prison officer severely injured after one of his auxiliary arteries was slashed during the incident. He survived.

Security professionals, police and prison officers have long asked for better knife protection than the protection offered by their existing body armour or stab vests.

“Our job is to offer the best possible protection from the most realistic threats. Leaving the area under your arms unprotected is ignoring the potential dangers a knife, bottle or edged weapon attack represents.”

This new type of cut resistant t-shirt is extremely lightweight, comfortable and available from size XS – XXXXL. It is available with short or long sleeves.

For further information please contact PPSS Group directly or email info@ppss-group.com or call +44 (0) 845 5193 953

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Prison Officers In Urgent Need For Concealable Body Armour

On January 23, 2011   /   Crime, Security News   /   Leave a comment

Concealable body armour should be made available to prison officers immediately, says Robert Kaiser, CEO of UK based personal protective equipment consultancy PPSS.

Recent incidents have highlighted once again the urgent need for concealable and lightweight body armour within the prison service.

One prison officer who asked not to be named told the BBC: “At least 50% of prison officers have been assaulted at least once, several officers, several times.”

The last two months alone several reported riots and violent attacks on prison officers have been recorded, which include major incidents at HMYOI Cookham Wood on 27th December, HMP Ford on 1st January, HMP Littlehey on 10th January, to name but a few.

Unfortunately this was not a new occurence, or something that should surprise us too much. Major violent incidents in 2010, which saw prison officers seriously injured at Frankland High Security Prison in Durham and HMP Leeds last year, are still fresh on our mind.

Robert Kaiser states: “As much as we would like to, we just cannot change the aggressive behaviour of some prisoners.”

“A prisoner on the receiving end of a disciplinary can overreact to anything the officer says or does. There is also no doubt that a prisoner consuming any kind of class A drugs, illegal substance or self made alcohol can become hostile and violent within a split of a second.”

“But how can it be that our police officers who are often required to face serious criminals for only a very few minutes are required to wear stab/ballistic vests, but those having to face the same criminals for potentially years to come are not being issued with any form of body armour?”

Worrying staffing levels, prisoner’s easy access to alcohol and drugs, a serious lack of respect and cultural issues will continue to contribute to the risk of escalation in our country’s prisons.

Colin Moses, Chairman of the Prison Officer Association (POA): ”Violent action can erupt at any time, and the severity of the violence and subsequent injuries to our officers is increasing.”

Colin Moses continues: “We fully appreciate that prisoners should be treated fairly and we are more than happy to ensure that all of our actions comply with human rights, but we are also determined to ensure the personal safety of our members.  Would anyone expect their partner, child or friend to come home from work with a horrific injury?”

Robert Kaiser, a globally respected expert on body armour and stab vests states: “For me it is simply common sense that prison officers should be protected from kicks, blows and punches as well as needles and razor blades.  Concealable body armour can and will one day save one of our prison officer’s life.”

Recent changes within the law such as the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 are going to put immense pressure on all key decision makers within the prison world.

If prison officers are not permitted to purchase body armour or if the British Government is not taking all necessary actions to ensure the personal safety of their prison officers, we could potentially look at liable cases within months from now.

“It is a legal, but above all, a moral obligation.  We have to protect those who serve and risk their lives every day they go to work.”  Robert Kaiser continues.

The argument that body armour can be perceived as confrontational or aggressive and lead to the escalation of a hostile situation might be true, but should we not pass this responsibility on to body armour manufacturers, urging them to create 100% concealable body armour?

Robert Kaiser answers this question: “Yes, I would completely agree with this. We have already been speaking and meeting with the Prison Officers Association (POA) and made a real impression. Many professionals are just not aware how thin and light body armour can be.”

Every employee has the right to be equipped appropriately, and this must include prison officers.  They need our protection and help.

Should you have any questions in reference to body armour or other types of protective equipment, then please feel free to contact PPSS on +44 (0) 845 5193 953, email info@ppss-group.com or visit www.ppss-group.com

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Cyber Criminals Target Smartphones as Malware Increases by a Third in 2010

On December 19, 2010   /   Computer Security, Crime, Virus and Spyware   /   Leave a comment

Smarter devices and the rise of open mobile platforms is leading to the emergence of increasingly intelligent mobile malware.

AdaptiveMobile, the world leader in mobile security, today announces that 2010 has seen the highest ever number of mobile malware infections aimed at Smartphone users, with the number of reports up 33 per cent on 2009 figures.

Taking a year-on-year view, malware engineered for the Google Android mobile platform rose most significantly, with a four-fold increase in the number of exploits identified throughout 2010 – although the total number of Android exploits is still at a low level relative to older platforms. The sharp rise comes as cyber criminals shift their focus towards those technologies and platforms that are likely to see the most widespread adoption in coming years. Such viruses put mobile subscribers at risk of monetary, privacy or data loss, often before the user even realises there is a problem. Smartphones running Java-based applications saw the second highest increase in malware reports, up 45 per cent on 2009. Reported exploits aimed at the iPhone declined, whilst new Symbian malware also fell by 11 per cent. WinCE-based viruses rose by seven per cent.

“With the increasing pervasiveness of Smartphone devices, 2010 has undoubtedly been the year that fraudsters have truly turned their attention to mobile platforms,” says Gareth Maclachlan, Chief Operating Officer, AdaptiveMobile. “The vast majority of consumers are acutely aware of the threats that PC-based viruses, spam messages and phishing emails pose, but many are still unaware of the risks associated with their mobile devices.

“With Smartphone penetration reported to reach 37 per cent in Europe and 44 per cent in the US by 2012,* we predict that the number of threats targeted at unsuspecting mobile users will continue to increase at an exponential rate throughout the course of 2011. Even more significantly, the nature of the threats we are seeing will increase in sophistication. Whereas the majority of existing threats target either SMS, voice, email or web, the next year will see the emergence of the ‘compound threat’ – intelligent scams designed to exploit multiple phone capabilities in order to reap maximum reward for the criminals, before the user even realises they have become a victim.”

Mclachlan concludes; “This trend towards more sophisticated attacks is set to shake up the telecoms and security markets as traditional approaches to protecting subscribers can simply no longer provide adequate protection. As these compound threats continue to emerge, so does the need for an intelligent approach to mobile security – keeping the industry one step ahead of the criminals to ensure that such threats do not reach mobile users in the first place.”

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Cut-Tex® PRO Slash Resistant Windbreaker to Offer Unrivalled Cut Protection for Security Professionals

On December 7, 2010   /   Crime, Security Solutions   /   Leave a comment

Cut-Tex® PRO, the world’s strongest cut resistant textile is now being used to manufacture slash resistant windbreaker and other cut resistant clothing for security professionals.

PPSS Group, the company behind Cut-Tex® PRO have developed cut and slash resistant windbreakers in order to improve the personal safety of security professionals and reduce the risk of workplace violence related injuries.

“This incredibly lightweight and breathable fabric will now allow us to manufacture standard and bespoke slash resistant clothing, using it either as inner or outer layer”, says Robert Kaiser, CEO of PPSS Group.

Security professionals all over the world are frequently dealing with potentially hostile members of the public.

John Portis, Managing Director of New Zealand based Trojan Security said: “New laws around the world are aimed to make sure that we are left with good, trustworthy and professional security operatives. Now we have to do our part of the bargain and make sure these guys are safe while on duty, and slash resistant clothing using Cut-Tex® PRO will certainly be of great help”.

An increase in anti social behaviour and a noticeable lack of respect is making the job of true security professionals ever so difficult.

Peter Fagerlund, CEO of Seas Scandinavia in Sweden comments: “Security professionals here in Gothenburg, have been slashed and stabbed more often than ever before this year, and I genuinely believe Cut-Tex® PRO will help to save lives”.

“Cut-Tex® PRO will allow us to look into their real protective clothing need, and I can assure everyone that we will do out utmost to design exactly what it takes to make sure these professionals come home to their families at the end of the working day or night says Robert Kaiser.

We all need to learn to understand that prevention is better than cure’ and ‘better safe than sorry’ are two sayings which make more sense within personal safety than anywhere else.

Issuing cut and slash resistant clothing can mean preventing potentially fatal injuries.

For further information please contact the industry experts PPSS. Please visit www.cut-tex.com or email info@ppss-group.com or call +44 (0) 845 5193 953

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