Solution Helps Banks Stop Fraud in Online Transactions

Fair Isaac's Newest Falcon One Solution Helps Banks Effectively Stop Fraud in Online Transactions; Falcon One for Online Access to Provide Real-Time, Multi-Factor Customer Identity Authentication With Minimal Customer Impact

 

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2006--Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FIC), the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology, announced today the release of Falcon One(TM) for Online Access, a real-time, multi-factor authentication solution that uses industry-leading fraud analytics to provide maximum online fraud detection with minimal customer impact.

 

As part of Fair Isaac's Enterprise Decision Management (EDM) software and solutions, Falcon One for Online Access is another key element in the Falcon One suite of interlinking enterprise fraud solutions. The solution may be deployed individually, or cooperate with other existing or added Fair Isaac fraud protection systems such as Fair Isaac's Falcon(TM) Fraud Manager, which is used widely in the credit and debit card industries.

 

Falcon One for Online Access is a uniquely comprehensive system for protecting online financial transactions. It provides neural network-based transaction monitoring capability that learns customer behavior patterns and recognizes suspicious transactions, including patterns of transactions spanning online, debit, branch and credit transactions. The system leverages account knowledge from other companion fraud protection systems to provide complete coverage of customer assets and the channels that access them.

 

"There is no silver bullet in the fight against increasingly sophisticated online attacks," said Ted Crooks, vice president of Global Fraud Solutions at Fair Isaac. "Only a comprehensive system combining both the human and electronic aspects of online activity and integrating with other fraud systems can provide a lasting solution. It's customer confidence and fear in the balance, and at the end of the day, only comprehensive protection will deliver lasting success."

 

In addition to unique behavior monitoring tools, Falcon One for Online Access monitors the details of the electronic behavior of the Internet communication channel used during an online session. This monitoring continues throughout the session in order to thwart "man-in-the-middle" attacks where a legitimate session is highjacked by an imposter.

 

Using both its transaction behavior intelligence and communications channel monitoring, Falcon One for Online Access provides continuous feedback on session risk to the bank's web hosting system, allowing bank managers to determine the best level of intervention or confirmation at every level of risk. To assist with risk mitigation, Falcon One for Online Access provides optional transient passwords, an advanced identity authentication interview service, and a case management system for human or automated follow-up and confirmation of suspicious transactions.

 

"Online banking transactions are increasing, but security is still the number one consumer concern," said Jerry Silva, research director for the TowerGroup Delivery Channel practices. "While U.S. consumers like to self-serve, less than half of them feel it is safe to conduct financial transactions online. Banks need to overcome these fears if they want to use this channel to its maximum potential."

 

Leading advisory research and consulting firm TowerGroup estimates that online transactions in retail banking have increased from 2.4 billion in 2001, to 11.4 billion in 2006, and are expected to reach 24.4 billion by 2010 ("Customer Self-Service and Retail Banking in the U.S.: Rising Expectations, Challenges, and Opportunities," published February 2006).

 

Falcon One for Online Access also can play an important role in helping financial services institutions meet regulatory compliance standards, including guidance issued by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). Regulators expect banks to use enhanced authentication or risk assessment technology when authenticating the identity of customers using Web-based financial services and achieve compliance with the guidance no later than the end of 2006.

 

About the Falcon One Suite

 

Falcon One for Online Access is the latest addition to Fair Isaac's Falcon One suite, which provides a common infrastructure allowing financial institutions to manage multiple, cooperating fraud solutions across various lines of business and numerous fraud types within their organization. The Falcon One system currently offers several other solutions that can be deployed individually or in combination, including Falcon Fraud Manager for credit card and debit card transaction fraud, and the Falcon ID solution for identity and first-party fraud protection. Falcon solutions protect 65 percent of credit card transactions worldwide, 85 percent in the U.S.

 

About Fair Isaac

 

Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FIC) makes decisions smarter. The company's solutions and technologies for Enterprise Decision Management give businesses the power to automate more processes and apply more intelligence to every customer interaction. Through increasing the precision, consistency and agility of their decisions, Fair Isaac clients worldwide increase sales, build customer value, cut fraud losses, manage credit risk, reduce operational costs, meet changing compliance demands and enter new markets more profitably. Founded in 1956, Fair Isaac powers hundreds of billions of decisions per year in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, retail, consumer branded goods, healthcare and the public sector. Fair Isaac also helps millions of individuals manage their credit health through the www.myFICO.com website. Visit Fair Isaac online at www.fairisaac.com.

 

Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Information

 

Except for historical information contained herein, the statements contained in this press release that relate to Fair Isaac, including statements regarding its Falcon One for Online Access product offering and the benefits to be derived from this offering, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including any unforeseen technical difficulties related to the implementation, use and functionality of the offering, the risks that customers will not perceive material benefits from the offering, failure of the product to deliver the expected results, the possibility of errors or defects in the offering, regulatory changes applicable to the use of consumer credit and other data, and other risks described from time to time in Fair Isaac's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2005, and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2006. Forward-looking statements should be considered with caution. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, Fair Isaac's results could differ materially from Fair Isaac's expectations in these statements. Fair Isaac disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

 

Fair Isaac, Falcon One and Falcon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation, in the United States and/or in other countries. Other product and company names herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

 

Contacts
Fair Isaac Corporation
John D. Emerick, Jr., 800-213-5542 (Investors & Analysts)
investor@fairisaac.com
Angela Carlson, 415-492-5373 (Media)
acarlson@fairisaac.com

Search Engine Marketing Experts Tell Businesses How to Succeed

 

Nashville, Tennessee Search Engine Marketing Experts Work Media Tell Businesses Exactly How to Succeed Online with New Internet Marketing Book

Nashville-based Work Media has released a new Internet marketing guide, "Aggressive Online Marketing Fundamentals: the Work Media Approach." The book is a high level primer on the various aspects of running an aggressive online marketing campaign. It touches on search engine optimization, pay-per-click campaign management, copywriting, blogging, email newsletters, linking campaigns, and more. While not going into great detail on the specifics of the various techniques, the book provides a foundation for prospective marketers to try various methods and engage in further research.

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) May 31, 2006 -- Jerry and Chris Work, founders of Nashville-based Internet marketing firm Work Media, have just released an Internet marketing guide titled "Aggressive Online Marketing Fundamentals: the Work Media Approach." The book is a high level primer on the various aspects of running an aggressive online marketing campaign.

Said Jerry Work, "We believe successful online marketing involves a combination of technology and direct marketing techniques. Companies also need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy, using many different techniques as necessary to drive targeted traffic to their web sites."

The book touches on numerous areas, including search engine optimization, pay-per-click campaign management, copywriting, blogging, email newsletters, and linking campaigns. While not going into great detail on the specifics of the various techniques, the book provides a foundation for prospective marketers to try various methods and engage in further research.

The book, which is approximately 16,000 words in length, is a free download from the Work Media web site in .pdf format.

For additional information, contact Jerry or Chris Work at 888-299-4837 or via email at email protected from spam bots.

About Work Media

Work Media consists of Jerry Work and his brother Chris Work, and various professional copywriters, designers, and programmers they work with on a project-by-project basis. The company specializes in implementing aggressive, multi-pronged Internet marketing plans. The Work brothers have experience marketing everything from highly-specialized service industries to multi-million dollar ecommerce sites.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Jerry Work, Chris Work
Work Media
888-299-4837
http://www.workmedia.net

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Press Contact: Jerry Work
Company Name: Work Media
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 615-473-2045
Website: http://workmedia.net

Consumers File Class Action Lawsuit Against Used-Car Dealer

 

Los Angeles Consumers File Class Action Lawsuit Against Used-Car Dealer Drive Time For Allegedly Leaking Their Private Financial Information to Unauthorized Third Parties

Several Los Angeles-area consumers have filed a class action lawsuit against used-car dealer Drive Time, formerly known as Ugly Ducking, for allegedly leaking their credit applications, which included their social security numbers and other private information, to unauthorized outside parties. Cheryl Long, an Individual, on behalf of herself and all others similarly aggrieved by defendants’ conduct as alleged herein v. Drive Time, a California Business Entity; Ugly Ducking, a California Business Entity, et al., Case. No. BC 352 692.

La Crescenta, Ca. (PRWEB) May 31, 2006 -- Many Los Angeles-area consumers shopping at Drive Time (formerly known as Ugly Ducking) for used cars usually have filled out credit applications containing all of their confidential financial information, including name, social security number, employment information and home address. These consumers assumed that Drive Time would keep these credit applications under lock and key and not leak them to anyone outside of Drive Time.

In connection with an investigation of a different case involving alleged misconduct by auto insurance brokers, the La Crescenta, California firm of Brennan, Wiener & Associates (“BWA”) alleges that Drive Time had, for some years, leaked these confidential credit applications in large numbers to insurance brokers for the purpose of placing auto insurance. The affected consumers had no idea that this was happening.

“My clients are understandably outraged,” commented Robert F. Brennan, lead counsel for the plaintiff class. So far, Brennan has collected several files from the insurance brokers with Drive Time credit applications in them. “With the Choicepoint scandal and so many other related instances, businesses which get a consumer’s social security number must learn to keep it safe and secure, under lock and key and accessible only to authorized personnel. They can’t be spreading around this information, even if it does make money for them directly or indirectly. The opportunity for identity theft and for other misuses of a consumer’s personal information is just too great in this day and age.”

The class members have filed a class action in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Cheryl Long, an Individual, on behalf of herself and all others similarly aggrieved by defendants’ conduct as alleged herein v. Drive Time, a California Business Entity; Ugly Ducking, a California Business Entity, et al., Case. No. BC 352 692.

Brennan offers some tips on making sure that your private financial information does not get spread about by corporations or stores to which you provide it. “First, there’s nothing wrong with asking exactly how the information will be protected before you provide them with the information. At a minimum, such information should be kept under lock and key and should be accessible only to key personnel and not to any low-wage temporary worker who happens to be passing through. Consumers are entitled to have corporations or retail companies agree in writing to keep confidential information private and secure.

“Since this situation usually comes up in connection with loan applications, I frequently advise my clients to simply go to their own banks and get pre-approved loans before shopping for major items. That way, there’s no reason to even worry about the whole dealership financing shell game. There are so many hidden charges and fees in many dealer financing deals that it’s almost always best just to go through your own bank. Then there’s also the greater chance that your information will be kept safe and secure.”

Brennan also points out that any consumer’s personal data is still subject to theft, even from otherwise secure locations. “There’s simply no foolproof way to entirely protect your personal information. 21st-century consumers must learn about handling consumer credit disputes as part of their basic financial information. It’s no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity.”

Brennan’s website, www.socalcreditdamage.com, gives consumers the tools for handing identity theft and false credit reporting situations.

About Robert F. Brennan: Robert F. Brennan, Esq. and his firm, Brennan, Wiener & Associates, 3150 Montrose Ave., La Crescenta, Ca., handle identity theft and wrongful credit report damage cases for residents of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and Ventura Counties. Brennan, Wiener & Associates have a track record of successfully cleaning up credit reports and also of obtaining compensation for their clients. Mr. Brennan is well known for taking this fairly technical area of the law and breaking it down into its simplicity so that anyone can themselves, without the assistance of an attorney, clean up derogatory marks on their credit reports which do not belong there. When consumers find themselves unable to clean up their credit reports on their own, that’s where Brennan, Wiener & Associates steps in, to ensure that the wrongful derogatory marks get cleaned up and to ensure that the consumers so affected receive adequate compensation.

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Press Contact: Robert Brennan
Company Name: BRENNAN, WIENER & ASSOC.
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 818-249-5291
Website: www.brennanlaw.com

Turn Your Cell Phone Into A Coupon!

 

Quickpons.com Launches New Advertising Method that merges Coupons, Cell Phones and the Internet

Quickpons, Inc. is launching a new Internet based service for consumers that will allow them to send coupons to their cell phones as text messages. There is no charge to consumers and businesses can join the service for free during the beta period.

Tampa, FL (PRWEB) May 30, 2006 -- Quickpons, Inc. is launching a new Internet based service for consumers that will allow them to send coupons to their cell phones as text messages. There is no charge to consumers and businesses can join the service for free during the beta period.

Businesses post special coupon offers on the website, such as “20% Off Your First Order”. Consumers arrive at the website seeking bargains. Once the consumer has located an offer that they wish to take advantage of, they simply click and send the offer as a text message to their cell phone. The merchants honor the text message on the cell phone as if it were a printed coupon.

The advantage to consumers is obvious, no more cutting out small paper coupons that often go forgotten and unredeemed. Quickpons, Inc. believes that this will be the new preferred method by which consumers will seek discounts. “I invented this service because I would usually forget to bring coupons with me, but I always have my cell phone”, says Glen Wheeler, President of Quickpons, Inc. “I also think many consumers will want to try it out just because it is so unique.”

Businesses benefit because studies show that consumers who use coupons spend more than those who don't. Also surprising is the fact that Americans in the upper income brackets are more likely to use coupons.
Text messaging is a growing trend among cell phone users. By merging the Internet, text messaging and consumers looking to save money, Quickpons, Inc. plans to bring those consumers together with businesses eager to oblige. The site is set to launch on June 16th with the Beta period ending that day. Businesses seeking further information should visit the website at www.quickpons.com.

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Press Contact: Josh Lassiter
Company Name: QUICKPONS, INC.
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 888-476-2461
Website: http://www.quickpons.com

California City Community Content Created At Google Co-op

 

CityTownInfo.com Provides Community Information to Google Searchers as Google Co-op Participant

CityTownInfo.com (CTI), a unit of Moving Traffic, Inc., announced today that it is providing Google search users with free instant access, via the new Google Co-op program, to its extensive database of information on thousands of US cities and towns. Users can sign up for the free service on Google, at http://www.google.com/coop/profile?user=008291016253664647185.

Boston, Mass. (PRWEB) May 30, 2006 -- CityTownInfo.com (CTI), a unit of Moving Traffic, Inc., announced today that it is providing Google search users with free instant access, via the new Google Co-op program, to its extensive database of information on thousands of US cities and towns.

Available immediately with free signup, the service allows people who search Google for “palo alto”, for example, to see CityTownInfo’s profile of Palo Alto, California near the top of Google’s results page. In this example, the profile includes the city’s population (58,598), location (15 mi NW of San Jose), area code (650), political leaning (Democratic), relative household income (high), along with numerous other characteristics. Users can also click on a link to access CTI’s complete city profile (for example, at http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/california/palo-alto).

Users can sign up for the free service on Google, at http://www.google.com/coop/profile?user=008291016253664647185. After sign up, the service becomes available to a user searching for a town or city at Google using one of these formats: “boston”, ”boston ma”, or “boston massachusetts”.

CityTownInfo.com provides demographic information, written profiles, data on housing, neighboring cities and towns, schools, income, weather, crime, and much more, for thousands of cities and towns across the US. The site also ranks each city or town on dozens of characteristics and highlights areas where each city is unique or notable, and provides a community space for visitors to offer their own comments on each city or town.

Eric Enge, VP of Marketing for Moving Traffic, said, "We’re proud to be one of the first sites in the Google Co-op program. We expect Google’s Co-op to be a real success because it offers searchers fast answers in response to their searches, not simply a list of relevant external links.”

For more information and details, visit CTI’s Google Co-op FAQ at http://www.citytowninfo.com/cti/google-coop-faq.html.

About Moving Traffic, Inc. and CityTownInfo.com

Moving Traffic is the publisher of http://www.CityTownInfo.com, a site designed to make it easy to learn about any city or town in the US. Travelers, home buyers, real estate agents, researchers, journalists, bloggers and others visit the site to get background information and find resources on a particular community.

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Press Contact: Eric Enge
Company Name: MOVING TRAFFIC, INC.
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 508-485-7751
Website: http://www.citytowninfo.com/

Canadian Privacy Training Programs

 

PrivaTech Launches Customized Canadian Privacy Training Programs

PrivaTech Consulting has designed Canadian privacy training programs that build privacy awareness. These customized privacy training sessions can be directed to senior executives and privacy officers, or employees of an organization, and focus on privacy law developments in Canada and avoiding corporate privacy breaches.

(PRWEB) May 25, 2006 -- PrivaTech Consulting is making privacy training a top priority. PrivaTech’s clients are quickly realizing that privacy training is a sound business investment.

PrivaTech has designed a privacy training program for privacy officers and senior executives to assist them in:
•    understanding the implications of recent privacy commissioner decisions;
•    overseeing an effective privacy impact assessment based on generally accepted privacy principles; and
•    developing privacy risk management plans.

PrivaTech has also redesigned its employee privacy training programs to build privacy awareness. Most privacy breaches involving the loss, misuse, unauthorized access or unauthorized disclosure of personal information are due to employee mistakes. Employee mistakes can be costly…but they are avoidable. PrivaTech’s privacy workshops and seminars give employees a clear understanding of their responsibilities through department specific training, practical tips and case studies that employees can relate to.

“PrivaTech took the time to truly understand our business before launching a multi-level privacy training program within our company, involving senior executives, department managers and front line staff. The results were spectacular – employees are empowered with the ability to make informed decisions that better protect the sensitive personal information we hold”, says Louise Turgeon, Privacy Officer and CFO of ESI Canada Inc. “After the first round of training, privacy issues were being identified and brought to the forefront before they resulted in bigger problems, reducing our cost of doing business.”

“Every organization is at a different stage with respect to their privacy compliance initiatives. Our goal is to develop a culture of privacy within the organization so risks can be quickly identified and managed”, says Fazila Nurani, founder of PrivaTech Consulting.

For more information on PrivaTech’s privacy training visit http://www.privatech.ca/privacy-solutions/workshops-seminars/index.cfm?WT.mc_id=pr0506

PrivaTech Consulting, based in Toronto, Ontario, specializes in advising private and public sector organizations on compliance with Canadian privacy laws. PrivaTech’s consultants and lawyers also write articles for PrivaTalk, a leading monthly privacy newsletter published by PrivaTech.

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Press Contact: Fazila Nurani
Company Name: PrivaTech Consulting
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 905-886-0751
Website: http://www.privatech.ca/index.cfm?WT.mc_id=pr0506

Financial Institutions Comply with New Identity Theft Guidelines

ID Insight's Safe2Change(SM) Helps Financial Institutions Comply with New Identity Theft Guidelines; Sections 114 and 315 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act Require Financial Institutions to Resolve Consumer Address Mismatches

 

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2006--Safe2Change, a new service from ID Insight Inc. will help financial services companies comply with recently proposed Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) guidelines aimed at preventing identity theft, according to Adam Elliott and Bob Clark, the company's founders.

 

Signed into law in December of 2003; FACTA requires that the Federal Trade Commission and other federal entities draft identity theft regulations and guidelines for financial institutions. Last week a consortium of federal agencies including the FTC, Federal Banking Agencies, and National Credit Union Administration, released a proposed rulemaking surrounding sections 114 and 315 of FACTA.

 

"Sections 114 and 315 both recognize the fact that all true instances of identity theft involve an address manipulation," said Adam Elliott, co-founder and president of ID Insight. "Our new solution, Safe2Change is built on extensive research around that same dynamic. Our core technology has data and analytics that provide financial institutions with definitive resolution to all address mismatches."

 

"The truth is, people legitimately change addresses all the time," said Bob Clark, co-founder and former fraud investigator. "But at the same time, the amount of fraud in address change transactions is simply too much to ignore. Safe2Change effectively isolates this fraud; allowing you to approve more genuine requests and deny more fraudulent ones."

 

Safe2Change is based on ID Insight's patent pending Address Differential Analysis(SM) technology - a blend of data and analytics designed to resolve address mismatches and prevent identity theft in both new accounts and address change requests in existing accounts. In addition to identity verification, the analysis produces the AD Score(SM), which numerically predicts the likelihood of fraud. The score helps financial institutions focus on high-risk requests in real time, allowing them to act immediately to protect consumers and prevent serious losses.

 

Safe2Change will help financial services companies comply with "red flag" provisions included in Section 114 of FACTA, which requires a credit or debit card issuer to assess the validity of a customer-requested address change when that request is coupled with a request for a new card within thirty days. Additionally, Safe2Change is compliant with Section 315, which requires users of consumer credit reports to verify and reconcile address discrepancies between a customer-supplied address and the address on file with a consumer reporting agency.

 

"Section 114 was written with account takeover in mind, while section 315 was targeted at new account fraud. Both of these new FACTA provisions support what we know from research; that it's all about the address," said Elliott. "Safe2Change allows financial institutions to serve more customers while reducing fraud and investigative expense at the same time."

 

ID Insight Inc. is a privately held company dedicated to preventing identity theft in new and existing financial accounts. ID Insight is based in St. Paul, Minn. and serves financial services clients nationwide.

 

Contacts
ID Insight Inc., St. Paul
Matt Schraan, 651-291-3557

Let's Drop PPC in Favor of Flat Rate

From what I've been seeing, I think it's only a matter of time before contextual network advertising is largely replaced by flat-rate advertising. Why? Click Fraud!

 

Click fraud is out of control and the providers either can't or in some cases I feel, won't seriously address the problem. The losers are the advertisers. If they are lucky they will not be in an industry that's on the radar of those doing most of the fraud, but if they aren't they have to be making quite a bit from sales to justify what they are spending.

 

A Flat-Rate Ad system something like what AdBrite.com offers is the only way I can see to combat the problem. What it would do is remove the incentive for fraud completely. The other option would be for the advertising networks to gain access to the advertisers traffic information, but most advertisers will not want to give up that information, and frankly I think the effort involved to process the data is more than search engines want to take on, especially when you consider they will be reducing their income when they really see how bad the fraud problem is...!

 

I have to believe that the fraudsters have evolved to the point that they can commit the fraud in a slow controlled way so as to not attract attention to what they are doing. A large-scale operation could easily assemble thousands of clickers, using hijacked proxy servers, or just those free AOL accounts to cover up the abuse.

 

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Lotto Company To Provide AOL With Content

 

Pensacola Technology Company To Provide AOL With Content

Gaming Solutions International's Interactive Lottery Data Now Available to AOL Users.

(PRWEB) May 9, 2006 -- Gaming Solutions International is pleased to announce their interactive lottery results are now available for AOL users.

Beginning in May of 2006 America Online's online audience will have access to patent-pending interactive lottery results data provided by Gaming Solutions International, as can be seen at this link http://news.aol.com/lottery?icid=news:lottery .

"We are both excited and proud to begin providing the world's premiere online community with interactive lottery data," said John Brier, Managing Partner of Gaming Solutions International, LLC.

“With over 200 current lottery games in the U.S. alone, and with 74% if U.S. adults playing the lottery regularly, our patent-pending suite of interactive lottery data services will provide AOL's web site visitors with exceptional content they interact with on a daily basis," added Brier.

About Gaming Solutions International, LLC:
Gaming Solutions International, LLC, is a Pensacola, FL based technology company that produces patent-pending interactive lottery results data for online and wireless media properties, to include newspapers, television stations, radio stations, portals, and news and information web sites. Lottery data coverage, available in English, Spanish, and French, includes all state and government sponsored lotteries in the United States, Canada, the U.K., and Ireland. Content partners include AOL, Bell South, AccuWeather, CBS Radio, Clear Channel Television, The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel, MSNBC, and many others. For more information visit their corporate web site at www.LottoFactor.com

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Press Contact: John Brier
Company Name: GAMING SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, LLC
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 850-292-2590
Website: www.LottoFactor.com