Security management is a nightmare. All businesses and individuals suffer from it, one way or the other. Thanks to the fact that the Internet allows for anonymity, super fast speeds, and a global reach the scope of security breaches has grown to untold proportions today.
According to an IDG document referring to the CyberSource Annual Online Fraud Report, business report a total of US$3.4 billion in the year 2011 alone. That’s roughly about US $700 million increase from 2010.
IT networks – across industries and with special emphasis on financial services industry – are regularly targeted by malicious hackers and fraudsters to bilk funds off credit card transactions, loan applications, and e-commerce transactions.
The perpetrators of these fraudulent events are not juvenile hackers out of college dorms (although they have a presence too). This is organized crime with highly methodical enterprises and operations with global networks, which reach out nationally and internationally. Purportedly, some of these activities are also heavily funded. Valuable personal data, corporate financial data, hacking into social security numbers, and various other ways of wreaking havoc form the crux of these fraudulent transactions.
Businesses do take corrective or defensive actions, of course. One of the ways financial firms help defend themselves against online (or offline) perpetrators is IP Geolocation.
At it’s core, IP Geo Location works with the user’s IP (Internet Protocol) address –a numeric string that comes with every device and ISP used to access to the Internet. Computers automatically send out this IP address – for every computer or any other device used – to help identify users. Yet, this IP address isn’t tethered to any one location. IP Geolocation data is fed to a massive database, admittedly – link IP address to locations geographically accurate. Since IP addresses change all the time, the data is also updated regularly. IP Geolocation provides information such as country, time zone, city, state, domain name (and type), and much more.
This data is later scrutinized and analyzed by a team of geography specialists to pinpoint exact usage patterns and geographic sources. IP Geolocation has one main benefit: quickly, users’ stated locations with actual locations could be mapped.
Armed with this information, online fraud can be curtailed to a large extent. It can also help with identifying and locating fraudsters who could derail an entire business if they can manage to get through undefended IT networks. For some businesses, it could be the end.
Have you considered using IP Geolocation for IT security? What are your thoughts?