Akamai bolsters Account Protector against cyber threats

Akamai Technologies has unveiled new features for its Account Protector security solution aimed at bolstering defences against cyber threats during the festive shopping season.

The announcement follows a revelation by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) that in recent years, shoppers have lost over GBP £10 million to scammers during Black Friday sales, a period which cybercriminals also exploit extensively.

Akamai's enhancements to Account Protector focus on monitoring and protecting user accounts throughout their lifecycle. This aims to mitigate issues like account opening abuse and account takeover attacks. The features include real-time behavioural monitoring and advanced application programming interface (API) operations and risk detection.

Rupesh Chokshi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Application Security at Akamai, stated, "As the cybersecurity landscape evolves, so do the tactics of fraudsters. Traditional static risk assessments at login are no longer sufficient to counter sophisticated account abuse threats. These enhancements to Account Protector provide continuous risk assessments and help customers detect subtle behavioral changes that could signal impersonation or fraudulent activity."

Highlighting the importance of continuous monitoring, the updated solution enables organisations to evaluate user risk from the moment an account is created through to post-login actions such as password changes and payments.

A principal component of the update is the real-time behaviour monitoring. This feature allows businesses to scrutinise account activities for suspicious behaviour right from the creation of an account to subsequent post-login activities.

Another enhancement includes advanced API operation purposes and risk detections for essential activities post-login, such as payments. This aims to secure checkout transactions and money transfers by detecting impostors conducting unauthorised transactions following account takeovers.

Account Protector's new features offer businesses flexible risk management capabilities. This involves tailoring security measures in alignment with risk tolerance and business objectives, allowing for more friction for suspicious users and less for trusted users.

These comprehensive updates come as an attempt to provide enhanced protection against sophisticated account abuse, allowing organisations to deliver secure user experiences without compromising convenience for legitimate users.

"These new capabilities provide advanced protection against sophisticated account abuse by monitoring user behavior in real time and adapting to changing risk profiles. Businesses can now better safeguard their user's accounts and respond to emerging risks while continuing to deliver great user experiences for trusted users," the company says.

Overall, these developments at Akamai represent a step towards increasing the security measures against the backdrop of rising cybercriminal activities targeting the e-commerce sector during peak shopping seasons like Black Friday. Businesses now have the capabilities to respond to potential attacks while maintaining a seamless user experience for trusted consumers.