As Real-Time Payment (RTP) programs move from pilot stage to implementation around the world, cyber crooks follow, lured by the lure of ill-gotten instant winnings on a large scale.

First of all, appreciate how far RTP has come. PYMNTS recently reported that “66.7% of executives consider themselves ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ aware of real-time payments, while 71.9% say they are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ interested in the system. Indeed, 85.3% are currently implementing RTP or planning to do so within the next three years. “

Then think about what this awareness means for cybercriminals. They are also “very interested”.

“Real-time payments are becoming increasingly popular with consumers and businesses, but some FIs are struggling to protect such systems. These struggles are leading many people to consider cutting edge tools that can help them better protect these transactions from fraud, ”according to PYMNTS January 2021 Real-time payment monitoring® made in collaboration with The clearing house.

The new Tracker cites a study in which nearly 80% of financial institutions (FIs) surveyed in the Asia-Pacific region “reported increased losses due to fraud after launching real-time payment services. Tools that help banks quickly analyze consumer behavior for suspicious activity could help banks strengthen their defenses and find bad actors before fraudsters carry out their scams.

Protecting RTP is critical to its wide acceptance as another arrow in the payments quiver.

PYMNTS January 2021 Real-time payment monitoring® made in collaboration with The clearing house examines the anti-fraud needs of railways in real time as they come to the fore in a post-pandemic world obsessed with instant payments, between cities and oceans.

Protect irreversible payments

PYMNTS last Real-time payment monitoring® recounts how Los Angeles-based auto finance company Westlake Financial conservatively integrated RTP, spending six weeks testing use cases and troubleshooting fraud scenarios before activating it. “The company was well aware that immediate payments can lead to reduced administrative costs, fast speeds and 24/7 availability, but these transactions are also almost irreversible, which adds complexity. Payments sent to the wrong account by mistake or as a result of a fraudster’s scam simply cannot be reversed until the funds are cleared, ”according to the Tracker.

It’s about the same for real-time payments. “The security measures that FIs need to deploy to take advantage of real-time payments include techniques well known in information security, such as multi-factor account authentication, identity confirmation, fraud monitoring tools and encouraging account holders to use strong passwords. and protect usernames and account information ”, Ledford of TCH noted.

Nacha, the regulator of automated clearinghouse networks in the United States, has been working with banks and businesses on faster payment solutions for some time and recently began developing a new set of resources to strengthen this effort. Yet “FIs and businesses may find it difficult to determine whether they would benefit from using same-day ACH, the clearinghouse’s RTP® network, or other options tailored to their needs,” and Nacha aims to help them. “

As the coordination continues, thieves never sleep. This is why RTP networks and partner organizations in space are busy secure the channel before big public debuts.

Tokenization, authentication working invisibly

While next year is expected to bring multi-layered security and evolving fraud detection with more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that identify potential frauds before they happen, future rail users in real time – and those who provide them – are busy plugging up cyber holes.

“The RTP network is also deploying tokenization for accounts on the network, where a token is used for account numbers. Tokenization increases security without harming the user experience – tokenization happens behind the scenes – because the unique token is passed during the transaction, not a customer’s account details, ”Ledford told PYMNTS.

He added: “These measures will also prevent payments made in error. Account authentication… will ensure that the account holder is the one sending the payment, and not a fraudster. This is important because payments over the RTP network are wire transfers and are irreversible in most cases. (It should be noted that most frauds involve debits, not credits.) ”