Last week Tesco became the next retailer to fall victim of cybercrime. Thousands of Tesco Bank customers found themselves caught up in a fraud scam, resulting in a lockdown for 1 in 7 customers’ accounts following the online raid. Tesco said they had spotted ‘suspicious transactions’ on 40,000 accounts over the weekend, with money taken from some of them. Despite this they have refused to elaborate further on what exactly happened. However, with the instant shut down of its online services, it indicates an online attack on the bank. Cybercriminals are constantly scanning valuable websites with the hope of exposing vulnerabilities, whether this is a direct attack or via a third party. Tesco Bank have since reported that they have refunded all of the 9000 customers affected by the attack, with a projected £2.5 million in pay-outs to those affected.
Due to the limited knowledge the public have with regards to the attack, it is difficult to advise consumers on how to protect themselves. However, there are precautionary steps to take to maximise your online safety; firstly, your banking password should be unique to your banking account, secondly, your bank should be operating a two-factor authentication, ensure your bank is and thirdly, ensure your software on all of your devices is up to date.
Thankfully there is progress on the way to help with credit card fraud, Oberthur Technologies have presented a new credit card with an extra layer of security, the back of the card sees the usual static three-digit security code replaced with a mini screen that displays a random code that changes automatically each and every hour. Although costly and potentially inconvenient when making online purchases it is a step in the right direction of tackling 2015’s staggering £755m in card fraud.
Oberthur technologies are currently in discussions with UK banks about rolling out their new technology and will have cards ‘in the hands’ of consumers in France by the end of the year.
