Mastercard Launches Threat Intelligence to Stop Payment Fraud Before It Strikes

Mastercard unveiled a new program this week at the Money20/20 USA conference in Las Vegas that aims to position fraud teams acquiring and issuing institutions to detect and prevent cyber-enabled fraud before it starts, according to a press release from the company.

The card network said the program, known as Mastercard Threat Intelligence, is the first threat intelligence offering that can counter fraud in payments at scale.

The announcement should please credit card issuers frustrated by fraud and the problems, including financial losses and damage to an issuer’s reputation, that it can bring.

One of the difficulties that credit card companies face to reduce payment fraud is that, by the time they detect an attack from a bad actor, it may be too late to prevent harm.

Mastercard said in its release that fraud doesn’t typically begin at the moment when someone makes a transaction. Rather, fraud often starts as a cyberattack.

A report from the card network and Datos Insights indicates that 60% of fraud leaders around the world say they don’t even learn about a cyber breach until fraud losses start.

But Mastercard Threat Intelligence can help a credit card issuer stop fraud before it has a chance to impact their bottom line.

Fraud often begins as a cyberattack, according to Mastercard.

Johan Gerber, Global Head of Security Solutions for Mastercard, said in the release that innovation is an imperative as the lines continue to blur between financial crime and cybercrime.

“Mastercard Threat Intelligence provides customers with actionable, real-time, and targeted risk insights to disrupt fraudulent transactions, inform strategic defense, and ultimately enable a more proactive approach,” Gerber explained.

Mastercard completed its acquisition of cybersecurity outfit Recorded Future in late 2024. The card network is using threat intelligence from Recorded Future to bolster its latest fraud-mitigating solution.

The new tool from Mastercard provides real-time alerts of fraudulent test transactions, which the solution can also proactively decline.

Mastercard Threat Intelligence also provides quantitative data that can help the company’s customers better understand the impacts of digital skimming.

In addition, the tool offers reports that assess emerging threats in the payments landscape, as well as case studies and analysis of trends in fraud that companies can use to boost their defense strategies.

Banks that can stop fraud before it impacts their organization can do more than just reduce financial losses — they can save time spent investigating the source of each incident of fraud.

Mastercard said in its release that threat intelligence data has already aided the network’s partners in locating and taking down malicious domains involved in stealing payment card information. 

The new solution from Mastercard is now available to issuers and acquirers, and stakeholders are starting to look forward to its benefits.

“Mastercard Threat Intelligence will help us to keep the pace with main threats and trends, something that is not possible today due to high-demanding operations in the bank,” Irvin Salinas Pineda, Fraud Expert at Banco Mercantil del Norte, said in the release.