Global Digital Attacks Surge 19%, LexisNexis Report Finds

LexisNexis® Risk Solutions today released the results of its annual Cybercrime Report, an analysis of data from 92 billion transactions processed through its LexisNexis® Digital Identity Network® throughout 2023. The report, Confidence Amid Chaos, reveals a 19% year-over-year (YOY) increase in the global human-initiated digital attack rate compared to the previous year. Cybercriminals’ expanding scale of activity is reflected in the rising attack rate, particularly in e-commerce and across North America.

The LexisNexis® Identity Abuse Index, which records the percentage of attacks per day, shows that attack rates spiked at both the beginning and end of 2023. A significant factor was that North America’s attack rate rose to meet and then surpassed that of Latin America throughout the year.

The number of e-commerce transactions increased modestly by 7% in 2023, as rising interest rates and global inflation cooled consumer spending. However, where consumers held back, fraudsters became more active. The volume of human-initiated attacks surged 80% YOY, resulting in an attack rate of 2.8% (up by 59% YOY). A key component of this growth in attacks was fraudsters’ focus on account takeover of e-commerce accounts, with the attack rate at login reaching 3.3% (an increase of 119% YOY).

Greater adoption globally of 3D Secure to mitigate the risk of fraud from Card-Not-Present (CNP) transactions is just one method businesses are employing to confront the heightened threat posed by cybercriminals. Regulatory changes in specific markets, such as establishing clearer liability frameworks, serve as a model for enhanced global cooperation aimed at minimising the impact of digital activities carried out by criminals.

“Cybercriminals continue to increase the scale and complexity of their illegal operations, with dedicated scam centres becoming a permanent fixture to mount digital attacks on consumers worldwide,” said Stephen Topliss, Vice President of Fraud And Identity, LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

“While these scam centres will continue to drive the threat of human-initiated attacks, organisations cannot afford to be complacent about the growing sophistication of bots, which can display more human-like behaviour to evade traditional prevention solutions. By focusing on identifying advanced bots in real-time, businesses can mitigate their ability to create fraudulent accounts or test stolen login credentials for future account takeover attacks.”

Key Findings from Confidence Amid Chaos:

• Third-party Account Takeover Takes Top Spot – Third party account takeover fraud was the leading type of fraud reported by clients in 2023, contributing 29% of fraud classifications reported, aligning with the strong attack rate growth seen at account login in 2023 (up 18% YOY).
• Human-Initiated Attacks Experience Rapid Growth – While bot-initiated attacks maintained a steady 2% YOY growth to reach 3.6 billion, human-initiated attacks surged by 40% in volume to 1.3 billion.
• Remote Scam Centres Drive Fraud – Device data, including high-altitude behavioral biometrics telemetry, reveals that parts of South-East Asia are established homes for dedicated remote scam centres. Cybercriminals favor border areas in Cambodia, Myanmar and remote parts of Thailand, according to data from the Digital Identity Network.
• New Challenges Confront Bot Attacks – Automated bot attack rates remained steady in 2023, partly due to the threat posed by advanced bot detection capabilities to this attack vector. These capabilities involve detecting bot traffic that mimics the locations of legitimate customers via IP proxies, along with identifying abnormal timing of events and unusual on-page or in-app behaviors. Businesses are increasingly employing proxy-piercing technology to break the anonymity of cyber criminals attempting to conceal their behaviour through the use of virtual private networks (VPNs).

Download a copy of Confidence Amid Chaos: The LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report 2023.