The line between cybercrime and payment fraud is increasingly blurred, with many fraudulent transactions originating from digital breaches. To address this, Mastercard has launched Mastercard Threat Intelligence, the first solution of its kind to apply curated threat intelligence directly to the payments ecosystem at scale. This new offering integrates Mastercard's own deep payment fraud insights with cyber threat intelligence from Recorded Future, enabling banks to proactively detect and prevent cyber-enabled fraud.
Mastercard has launched Mastercard Threat Intelligence to combat payment fraud at its source.
The solution merges Mastercard's payment data with Recorded Future's cyber threat intelligence.
It is designed to help fraud and cybersecurity teams collaborate to stop fraud before transactions occur.
Key features include card testing detection, digital skimming intelligence, and merchant threat reports.
The launch follows Mastercard's acquisition of Recorded Future less than a year ago.
In testing, the data helped identify malicious domains linked to an estimated $120 million in fraud.
Payment fraud is evolving from a purely financial issue into a complex cybersecurity challenge. A significant 60% of global fraud leaders report they only learn of a cyber breach after fraud losses have begun. This delay creates a critical gap that fraudsters exploit. Mastercard Threat Intelligence is built to close this gap by providing actionable intelligence that allows security and fraud teams to work in unison, disrupting criminal activity before it impacts the bottom line.
The solution provides a suite of targeted features designed to address specific vulnerabilities in the payment chain. It offers real-time alerts for card testing attacks, proactively declining fraudulent transactions used to validate stolen card data. It also delivers quantitative intelligence on digital skimming campaigns and targeted reports on merchant risk. Furthermore, weekly ecosystem reports keep financial institutions informed of emerging threats and vulnerabilities across the broader payments landscape, enabling a more strategic defense.
The launch exemplifies the strategic value of Mastercard's acquisition of Recorded Future, demonstrating a commitment to a unified, intelligence-led security model. By fusing transactional data with external cyber threat intelligence, the solution provides a more holistic view of the threat landscape. This approach has already proven effective; during market testing, the intelligence helped ecosystem partners identify and takedown malicious domains that had impacted nearly 9,500 e-commerce sites.
The initiative is driven by the need for innovation in the face of converging threats. As Johan Gerber, global head of Security Solutions at Mastercard, stated, “As the lines between cybercrime and financial crime continue to blur, innovation is an imperative. Mastercard Threat Intelligence provides customers with actionable, real-time and targeted risk insights to disrupt fraudulent transactions, inform strategic defense and ultimately enable a more proactive approach.” This sentiment is supported by industry experts who see cross-sector intelligence as key to moving from a reactive to a proactive security posture.
Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re building a resilient economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart, and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships, and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses, and governments realize their greatest potential.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.