Stronger together: The power of fraud detection and cybersecurity convergence in banking
Kris Emerton-Jones
Head of Sales & Marketing, Global Fraud Solutions, GBG
In today’s digital-first banking environment, convergence is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a strategic imperative. As financial institutions face an onslaught of increasingly sophisticated digital threats, fraud tactics and rising customer expectations, the traditional siloed approach to risk management is proving inadequate.
Historically, cybersecurity, IT, fraud risk and anti-money laundering (AML) teams have operated in isolation, each focused on their own domain. While this may have worked in a less complex threat landscape, it’s no longer viable. Fragmented efforts lead to blind spots, delayed responses and missed opportunities to prevent attacks before they escalate. In the current environment, convergence isn’t just an operational convenience, it’s a strategic necessity.
Why convergence matters now
The urgency for convergence is driven by a perfect storm of factors:
- Large-scale data breaches are increasingly common, with stolen personal credentials flooding the dark web, ready for misuse. Threat actors are leveraging these data to launch attacks that bypass traditional defences. In June 2021, LinkedIn saw data associated with its users circulating on a dark web forum. The leaked dataset included personal information such as email addresses, phone numbers, geolocation data, gender and links to other profiles which provided threat actors with ample material to launch targeted social engineering attacks, increasing the risk of identity theft and fraud in the aftermath of the breach.
- Multi-vector attacks are on the rise. A typical example involves a coordinated fraud campaign that blends phishing emails and SMS messages, mobile malware such as banking trojans and Remote Access Tools (RATs), and social engineering tactics. In these scenarios, attackers lure victims into clicking malicious links, which then infect their devices with malware. Once compromised, fraudsters can remotely control the device, intercept credentials and impersonate the user to gain access to banking services, resulting in account takeover and locking out the legitimate user entirely.
- Regulatory pressure is mounting. Cyber-enabled fraud is growing at an alarming pace, fuelled by digital innovation and global connectivity. These attacks are increasingly complex, transnational and capable of causing massive financial losses while eroding trust in digital banking. Organisations like FATF and Interpol are calling for stronger collaboration, breaking down silos and accelerating integrated responses across fraud, AML and cybersecurity. The message is clear: as fraud becomes more sophisticated, regulatory pressure for unified risk management is only going to intensify.
- Speed is critical. In fast-moving banking digital channels, delayed fraud detection often means irreversible damage. Real-time detection and decisioning response are no longer optional, they’re mandatory. Compounding this urgency is the rise of Fraud-as-a-Service (FaaS); a growing underground economy where cybercriminals offer ready-made fraud toolkits, democratising access to sophisticated fraud capabilities, lowering the barrier to entry for individuals with little to no technical expertise
Benefits of a unified approach
A converged fraud detection and cybersecurity strategy delivers transformative advantages for banks navigating today’s complex threat landscape. By combining data and insights from fraud, AML and cybersecurity, institutions gain holistic risk visibility across digital channels and infrastructure, enabling them to detect and respond to threats that span multiple domains. This approach improves overall risk management by moving from a reactive to a more strategic, proactive stance.
Platforms like our Intelligence Center play a pivotal role in this transformation. As a low-code orchestration solution, it empowers fraud risk managers to design efficient workflows that combine traditional rules, machine learning and datasets with advanced capabilities such as email, IP, geo-location, device and behavioural analytics. This layered approach strengthens fraud defences while maintaining a frictionless customer experience.
Real-time orchestration across teams and systems not only enhances protection but also drives operational efficiency, reducing duplication of tools and processes, freeing up resources for more complex investigative tasks and strategic initiatives. The result is quicker risk detection and response, improved compliance, and a seamless onboarding experience that builds customer trust.
Challenges to overcome
While convergence offers clear advantages, achieving it isn’t always straightforward. Data silos and legacy systems often limit integration and visibility, making it difficult to create a unified risk view. At the same time, technology modernisation is essential to support real-time orchestration and advanced analytics.
Beyond infrastructure, skills gaps and training needs pose another challenge. Teams must be equipped to operate effectively in a converged environment, which requires cross-functional training to foster collaboration and shared understanding. Equally important is governance and accountability alignment, ensuring clear ownership and decision making across fraud, cybersecurity and AML functions.
The good news? Leading banks are already tackling these challenges by setting shared KPIs, investing in integrated platforms and launching cross-functional training programs to build a culture of collaboration.
Bringing it all together
Bringing cybersecurity, fraud, AML and IT teams together enables a 360-degree view of risks. This unified perspective allows banks to detect and respond to complex, multi-layer attacks that span digital and transactional domains; such as reconnaissance, credential theft followed by phishing, account takeover and fraudulent transactions.
In a competitive market, safeguarding brand reputation and avoiding regulatory fines from data breaches, fraud or compliance failures is critical. The future of risk management lies in convergence, and the time to act is now.
Ready to strengthen your defences? Chat with our fraud detection experts today.
