Mastercard Threat Intelligence Launches to Combat Payment Fraud at Scale

Mastercard has announced the launch of Mastercard Threat Intelligence, the first threat intelligence offering applied to payments at scale. The solution combines Mastercard’s global fraud insights with cyber threat intelligence from Recorded Future, empowering financial institutions across Asia-Pacific (APAC) to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber-enabled fraud with greater speed and accuracy.

The intelligence gap between cyber and fraud teams remains critical. Sixty percent of global fraud and risk executives are notified of cyber data breaches only after fraud losses begin, a figure that rises to 67% across APAC. Similarly, 83% of APAC financial institution leaders report frustration with the lack of real-time cyber threat intelligence (CTI) integration.

“Payment fraud is no longer just a payment system issue—it is a cybersecurity challenge that directly impacts an organisation’s bottom line,” Matthew Driver, Executive Vice President of Services, Asia Pacific, at Mastercard said.

“Mastercard Threat Intelligence bridges communication gaps, enabling fraud and security teams to work together seamlessly to stop fraud before it happens. It has never been more urgent,” added Aditi Sawhney, Senior Vice President of Security Solutions, Asia Pacific, at Mastercard. “We are helping our customers move from fragmented responses to unified, intelligence-led defence strategies that strengthen resilience across the payments ecosystem.”

Mastercard Threat Intelligence Key Features

• Card testing detection: Real-time alerts and proactive declines of fraudulent test transactions, reducing downstream fraud and protecting cardholders.
• Digital skimming intelligence: Quantitative data to assess skimmer impacts and disrupt card-related malware, leveraging Mastercard’s industry partnerships.
• Merchant threat intelligence: Targeted insights to assess merchant risk and enable faster incident response.
• Payment ecosystem threat intelligence: Weekly reports on emerging threats and vulnerabilities across the global payments landscape.
• Payment intelligence reports: Actionable case studies and fraud trend analysis to inform strategy, and strengthen defences.

Operational silos continue to challenge risk resilience. Two in three fraud and risk leaders worldwide highlighted silos as a top concern, with 72% of APAC leaders citing this entrenched issue as their highest priority.

“Operational silos within the fraud and cyber teams continue to plague risk leaders as a high concern,” said Driver. “With Mastercard Threat Intelligence, we are giving our customers the global visibility, threat intelligence, and tools to prevent fraud and operate securely in a connected world.”

Despite the challenges, APAC leaders are also seeing the benefits of improved integration. Most (89%) institutions in the region report faster fraud defence responses following integration efforts, leading all global regions in speed gains.

The launch of Mastercard Threat Intelligence comes less than a year after Mastercard finalised its acquisition of Recorded Future, and demonstrates the companies’ commitment to delivering a unified, intelligence-led approach to securing the digital economy.

During market testing over the course of six months, Mastercard’s intelligence data helped ecosystem partners identify and take down malicious domains tied to the theft of payment card data, which had impacted nearly 9,500 e-commerce sites, and were linked to an estimated USD $120 million in fraud losses.

Mastercard Threat Intelligence is now available for issuers and acquirers globally. For more information, visit the website here.