The cat and mouse game of payments security

In the last decade, the way we make our payments has become more seamless, faster and cheaper. We’ve switched from signatures on paper cheques to a few swipes and a tap on a mobile phone.But with these advances have come massive new opportunities for cybercriminals.From cons using deception and social engineering to romance fraud, unauthorised transfers, hacks and identity theft, the cat and mouse game between scammers and those policing the payments system has now reached a new level of intensity. In the latest New Money Review podcast I’m joined to discuss this topic by Steven Murdoch, professor of security engineering at University College, London.During the podcast, we cover:Why technologists, lawyers and economists all focus on payments securityHow should we treat victims of payments fraud?Why tricking customers into transferring funds is now the most lucrative payments scamHow limits on customer reimbursement may cause banks to stop pursuing fraudstersBalancing responsibilities in customer reimbursement schemesHow AI may help payments fraudsters cast a wider netHow the parameters of banks’ online payments systems can feed or starve fraudDoes more secure always mean harder to use?Cross-border fraud and the reversibility of paymentsCryptocurrency from the perspective of payments securityTelegram and tensions over encrypted messaging networksThe Horizon scandal and the legal presumption of reliable IT systems