Examine our research from the last year in the ReliaQuest 2024 Annual Cyber-Threat Report
Reduce Alert Noise and False Positives
Boost your team's productivity by cutting down alert noise and false positives.
Automate Security Operations
Boost efficiency, reduce burnout, and better manage risk through automation.
Dark Web Monitoring
Online protection tuned to the need of your business.
Maximize Existing Security Investments
Improve efficiencies from existing investments in security tools.
Beyond MDR
Move your security operations beyond the limitations of MDR.
Secure with Microsoft 365 E5
Boost the power of Microsoft 365 E5 security.
Secure Multi-Cloud Environments
Improve cloud security and overcome complexity across multi-cloud environments.
Secure Mergers and Acquisitions
Control cyber risk for business acquisitions and dispersed business units.
Operational Technology
Solve security operations challenges affecting critical operational technology (OT) infrastructure.
Force-Multiply Your Security Operations
Whether you’re just starting your security journey, need to up your game, or you’re not happy with an existing service, we can help you to achieve your security goals.
Detection Investigation Response
Modernize Detection, Investigation, Response with a Security Operations Platform.
Threat Hunting
Locate and eliminate lurking threats with ReliaQuest GreyMatter
Threat Intelligence
Find cyber threats that have evaded your defenses.
Model Index
Security metrics to manage and improve security operations.
Breach and Attack Simulation
GreyMatter Verify is ReliaQuest’s automated breach and attack simulation capability.
Digital Risk Protection
Continuous monitoring of open, deep, and dark web sources to identify threats.
Phishing Analyzer
GreyMatter Phishing Analyzer removes the abuse mailbox management by automating the DIR process for you.
Integration Partners
The GreyMatter cloud-native Open XDR platform integrates with a fast-growing number of market-leading technologies.
Unify and Optimize Your Security Operations
ReliaQuest GreyMatter is a security operations platform built on an open XDR architecture and designed to help security teams increase visibility, reduce complexity, and manage risk across their security tools, including on-premises, clouds, networks, and endpoints.
Blog
Company Blog
Case Studies
Brands of the world trust ReliaQuest to achieve their security goals.
Data Sheets
Learn how to achieve your security outcomes faster with ReliaQuest GreyMatter.
eBooks
The latest security trends and perspectives to help inform your security operations.
Industry Guides and Reports
The latest security research and industry reports.
Podcasts
Catch up on the latest cybersecurity podcasts, and mindset moments from our very own mental performance coaches.
Solution Briefs
A deep dive on how ReliaQuest GreyMatter addresses security challenges.
White Papers
The latest white papers focused on security operations strategy, technology & insight.
Videos
Current and future SOC trends presented by our security experts.
Events & Webinars
Explore all upcoming company events, in-person and on-demand webinars
ReliaQuest ResourceCenter
From prevention techniques to emerging security trends, our comprehensive library can arm you with the tools you need to improve your security posture.
Threat Research
Get the latest threat analysis from the ReliaQuest Threat Research Team. ReliaQuest ShadowTalk Weekly podcast featuring discussions on the latest cybersecurity news and threat research.
Shadow Talk
ReliaQuest's ShadowTalk is a weekly podcast featuring discussions on the latest cybersecurity news and threat research. ShadowTalk's hosts come from threat intelligence, threat hunting, security research, and leadership backgrounds providing practical perspectives on the week's top cybersecurity stories.
March 26, 2024
About ReliaQuest
We bring our best attitude, energy and effort to everything we do, every day, to make security possible.
Leadership
Security is a team sport.
No Show Dogs Podcast
Mental Performance Coaches Derin McMains and Dr. Nicole Detling interview world-class performers across multiple industries.
Make It Possible
Make It Possible reflects our focus on bringing cybersecurity awareness to our communities and enabling the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
Careers
Join our world-class team.
Press and Media Coverage
ReliaQuest newsroom covering the latest press release and media coverage.
Become a Channel Partner
When you partner with ReliaQuest, you help deliver world-class cybersecurity solutions.
Contact Us
How can we help you?
A Mindset Like No Other in the Industry
Many companies tout their cultures; at ReliaQuest, we share a mindset. We focus on four values every day to make security possible: being accountable, helpful, adaptable, and focused. These values drive development of our platform, relationships with our customers and partners, and further the ReliaQuest promise of security confidence across our customers and our own teams.
More results...
The security community is quick to highlight the benefits of two-factor authentication (2FA) when it comes to something like account security, preventing takeovers, and data or monetary theft. Bank of America recently started a pilot program designed to combat credit card fraud in a unique way that I had never seen before; combining a 2FA smart card with the traditional credit or debit card that most of us carry around in our pockets every day.
One of the barriers to implementing this on a wide scale is getting that second factor into the hands of the users intended to use them. As Photon highlighted in our research paper Two Factor In Review, there are several technologies which act as a second factor that can be used with popular services like bank logins or social media accounts; things like smart cards, SMS tokens, or U2F hardware tokens. Typically, when implementing 2FA on the consumer side (outside of an enterprise setting), the onus is on the individual to set up the 2FA method of their choosing. This could involve downloading an authenticator app, connecting your mobile number to your account, or buying another piece of hardware. Small barriers, but barriers, nonetheless.
I enrolled in the program because it sounded interesting and I wanted to see what the card was like, how exactly it worked, and answer the question: If an attacker had all my credit card information, would this 2FA solution prevent it from being used illegitimately?
The diagram below shows what a typical credit or debit card looks like; depending on the issuing bank, things may be structured a bit differently or in different locations, but the information on the card is all there. I know, most of you reading know what a credit or debit card looks like but just stick with me: It’s got the cardholder name, credit or debit card number, the issuing bank, and a security code.
Figure 1: Basic structure of a credit or debit card
As a side note, CVV is a general term used to describe CVV1, CVV2 (Visa and Mastercard) and CID (Discover and American Express) codes. CVV1 data is included within the magnetic stripe of a credit or debit card, and CVV2 or CID codes are what is included on a physical card.
We’re going to focus on the CVV security code on the back of my Visa card – the famous 3- or 4-digits. Traditionally, the CVV code only changed whenever a new card was issued, which would typically come with a new card number as well. With this new card from Bank of America, the CVV code changes every four hours, thanks to a small battery-operated token embedded within the card itself.
Figure 2: On the left, taken at 7:10 AM. On the right, taken at 12:30 PM.
The goal behind this is to prevent card-not-present (CNP) fraud, which accounted for $4.57 billion worth of fraud in 2017. CNP fraud occurs when a criminal uses stolen credit or debit card information for their own illicit purposes, taking advantage of merchants which don’t require a physical card to initiate a transaction (i.e. you don’t have to swipe your card). With static CVV codes, criminal can steal the card’s information, either through card skimming or online data theft, and use it as long as the card remains active. Fraudsters can monetize stolen credit or debit card information by using the cards themselves for fraudulent purposes or reselling them to other fraudsters on criminal platforms like Joker’s Stash or Brians Club. An ever-changing CVV code (i.e. dynamic CVV), similar to an ever-changing two-factor authentication key, has the potential to stop this kind of fraud in its tracks.
The keyword there is potential. Banks handing out what essentially boils down to free smart cards with security tokens embedded within them is a great move in the right direction. However, from the onset I identified a few potential issues with this dynamic CVV approach. You may be thinking, “Harrison, you literally just said it’s a move in the right direction.” I promise, I’m not lying. But…
Potential Issues with Dynamic CVV
Despite being a great step in the right direction, it just might be too late for dynamic CVV. If dynamic CVV technology was implemented 10 or so years ago, along with the rise in EMV chip technology being embedded within credit and debit cards, it’s possible that banks may have been able to protect billions of dollars. However, in 2019, a few key things would need to change (like online merchants requiring CVVs) for the full potential to be realized.