Online fraud continues to rise as more and more business transactions take place online. A recent INTERPOL financial fraud assessment shows that the increased use of technologies like artificial intelligence and digital currencies has allowed organized crime groups to enhance their targeting of potential victims. They are becoming more effective at carrying out investment fraud, advance payment fraud, business email compromise, and a host of other online fraud attacks.
Combating online fraud is no walk in the park. There are no tools that can guarantee complete protection against the attacks. However, anti-fraud solutions, especially those installed on end users’ devices, can still be extremely effective when implemented well. They can help significantly reduce the risks, provided that the right security features and functions are in place.
Client-Side Protection
Client-side protection refers to the establishment of defenses on the devices or web browsers of users accessing a web service. Instead of setting up security controls on the server side, here security is focused on client hardware and software.
As today’s web-based apps – and the third-party code bases that power many of their components – are structured to use more computing power on client devices, client-side protection becomes all the more important.
Threat actors have been taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the devices and web browsers used by consumers to access online services. They launch client-side attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information, spread malware, hijack sessions, or turn devices into bots for DDoS attacks or crypto mining. Their prevalence keeps increasing as more devices go online and people pay insufficient attention to cybersecurity.
Organizations need to address the rise of client-side threats not only to protect their customers but also to secure their reputations, given that bad customer experiences can easily translate to damage to companies’ bottom lines. Additionally, regulations now impose requirements to address client-side attacks. PCI DSS 4.0, for example, requires organizations to implement client-side security controls.
How Client-Side Protection Works
Client-side protection addresses the problem of online fraud using six key methods: authentication and authorization, encryption, input validation, browser security, content security policies (CSP), and security updates. These client-focused defenses work together in different ways to tackle the fraud problem.
Authentication and authorization are vital in making sure that a device or client application is only accessible to legitimate users. They use technologies like multi-factor authentication, session cookies and tokens to prevent online fraud by stopping threat actors from taking over a device or app and using it for fraudulent transactions or communication.
Encryption is a must to ensure that no data stored in or transmitted to and from a client device will be usable to cyber criminals. At-rest and in-transit encryption prevent client-side data leakage even if attackers manage to intercept or eavesdrop on devices. They may not completely stop cybercriminals from stealing data, but they make it impossible for cybercriminals to use the stolen data for criminal ends.
Another aspect of client-side protection is input validation, the process of securing apps from injection attacks and cross-site scripting. This ascertains that the data strings entered into the input field of an app do not elicit unwanted responses. For example, in SQL injection, a malicious script introduced to an app can make the app reveal sensitive data such as passwords and credit card numbers. Online fraud perpetrators use these data to impersonate people or take over online accounts to engage in fraudulent transactions.
In addition, client-side protection requires robust browser security. Users are rarely conscious enough of cybersecurity dangers when using web browsers. They allow browsers to save the data they input into forms, override TLS warnings, and ignore security alerts. Not many realize how their careless actions when browsing the web can serve as a means for fraudsters to steal data or hijack online sessions. Client-side security calls for the enforcement of best practices in browser use, from cautiously dealing with links and downloads to using HTTPS.
Your content security policy (CSP) is a security standard created to stop cases of cross-site scripting attacks, which can otherwise be launched from infected client-side devices, even without the user knowing it. Administrators can implement CSP on their websites to specify legitimate sources of scripts, stylesheets, images, and other web resources. Only those that are deemed to be from legitimate sources are allowed to load on a webpage, preventing threat actors from tricking users into loading their malicious content.
Lastly, client-side protection needs applications, including web browsers and plugins, to be regularly updated. This is important to make sure that their security weaknesses are properly patched before bad actors manage to find and exploit these vulnerabilities. Many cases of online fraud leverage app security issues to steal sensitive data or hijack user accounts.
A Pivotal Role that Requires Ample Support
Client-side protection plays a key role in fighting online fraud by implementing security controls in devices and client software. However, it alone is not enough to effectively fend off cases of fraud. It has limited control over user behavior. It does not address server-side and Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. Additionally, it is weak against multi-stage attacks that involve combinations of server-side and client-side exploitation.
Client-side protection is best used as a part of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. It should be deployed alongside server-side security and network defenses like firewalls and intrusion detection systems. There should be corresponding server-side defenses to deal with attacks such as the exploitation of server misconfigurations and database breaches.
Additionally, it is important to implement mechanisms to mitigate social engineering and insider attacks that bypass security controls on the server and client sides.
Moreover, client-side protection can be used together with advanced bot protection solutions to maximize the prevention of online fraud. Many attempts to defraud consumers online include a bot component, which can be responsible for scraping information about potential victims or the automation of attacks.
Bots can be used to rapidly create new accounts, take over accounts, or undertake Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. DDoS can be used to make a legitimate website unavailable, making it easier to herd customers to a phishing site. Weakening or even eliminating the involvement of bots is a significant stride toward online fraud prevention.
In Conclusion
Client-side protection is crucial for fighting online fraud, especially as the threat evolves with new techniques and technologies. Authentication and authorization, encryption, input validation, browser security, content security policies, and security updates help organizations address fraudulent transactions and other cyber attacks anchored on deception and misdirection.
However, client-side defense will never be enough to win against internet fraud. It has to be used in conjunction with server-side security controls, network defenses, bot protection, and up-to-date cybersecurity training to address social engineering and insider threats.
