Staying ahead of emerging fraud patterns is paramount to building and maintaining a successful business. But the process of benchmarking for critical key performance indicators (KPIs) can’t be done in a vacuum. That’s why we’re expanding Sift’s Fraud Industry Benchmarking Resource (FIBR) with two new metrics. These timely additions provide deeper visibility into the scope of the digital risk landscape by key industries.
Powered by Sift’s Global Data Network scoring over 1 trillion events annually, FIBR has become a valuable resource for fraud fighters and THE industry standard for fraud benchmarks. Our first three FIBR metrics launched in late 2023—payment fraud attack rates, fraudulent chargeback rates, and manual review rates—helped businesses gauge their performance against industry standards and identify areas for improvement in their fraud prevention strategies.
And now, with the introduction of account takeover attack (ATO) rate and two-factor authentication (2FA) trend data, FIBR offers an even more comprehensive view of the digital risk landscape. These new metrics allow fraud fighters to compare ATO attack rates and 2FA step-up authentication across various industries and geographies, providing unique benchmarks that directly impact fraud prevention outcomes.
Our goal with FIBR is simply to break down the barriers to accessible fraud data for the industry. By providing fraud fighters with deeper visibility into the evolving risk landscape, FIBR delivers insights every business needs to protect their customers and their reputation in an increasingly complex digital ecosystem.
Analyzing key insights from new FIBR data
Account takeovers, in which fraud actors gain unauthorized access to user accounts, have become increasingly prevalent in recent years. Our Q3 Digital Trust & Safety Index uncovered a staggering 354% year-over-year increase in ATO attacks in Q2 2023 alone. This trend underscores the urgency with which merchants and financial institutions should take today in order to minimize the downstream ripple effects of compromised accounts.
Moreover, not all industry sectors are targeted equally by ATO attacks. For example, online loyalty programs have become prime targets for fraudsters seeking to exploit the rewards earned by legitimate customers. Similarly, food ordering and delivery services face elevated ATO attack rates and below-average 2FA adoption, as fraudsters exploit the seamless ordering experiences offered by these platforms.
More specifically, here is what the FIBR data tells us:
- ATO attack rate: While the average ATO attack rate across all industries stands at 2.5%, loyalty programs and food ordering and delivery services experience significantly higher rates of 11% and 20%, respectively. These figures underscore the heightened vulnerability of these sectors to account takeover attacks.
- 2FA rate: Two-factor authentication step-up challenges appear in roughly 10% of transactions across the total population. However, the food ordering and delivery services industries have a 2FA rate of 3.5%—slightly more than one third of the average rate across all industries. For businesses like these, it’s more important to focus on speed-of-purchase and reducing friction. Other verticals, such as those selling higher value goods, may engage 2FA at a higher rate to protect user accounts that hold a higher stored value.
In light of these findings, the importance of leveraging data-driven insights to combat fraud cannot be overstated. As AI-driven fraud attacks continue ramping up in scale, velocity, and sophistication, fraud fighters must be armed with the most up-to-date trends affecting their industries. By expanding FIBR with new ATO and 2FA metrics, we empower digital businesses to stay one step ahead of fraudsters and safeguard their operations against emerging threats.
For fraud and risk professionals, particularly those in executive roles, leveraging the insights available through FIBR is not just a strategic imperative—it’s a competitive advantage. As we navigate an ever-evolving Fraud Economy, one thing is clear: vigilance, innovation, and collaboration are our most powerful weapons in the fight against digital fraud. With FIBR as our guide, we can navigate these challenges with confidence, equipping ourselves with the data to detect, deter, and defeat even the most sophisticated threats to digital trust.