Enhancing cybersecurity: The role of clean data and verified identity
Guest blog by Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa
Some big brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, M&S and Co-op have reported damaging cyberattacks on their IT systems this year. For M&S this meant they had to switch off their capability to handle online orders for many weeks, reported losses of around £300 million and witnessed their market valuation decline by £1.3 billion.
These cyberattacks don’t only cause significant short term financial pain due to the disruption in sales, but also long term damage with the loss of consumer trust and reputation that can lead to once loyal customers not returning.
As a result, organisations need to bolster their efforts in cybersecurity, which means recognising the value of obtaining customer contact data quality, and in delivering simple ID checks, if they are serious about avoiding cyberattacks and fraud.
Reliable customer contact data strengthens cybersecurity measures
The quality of customer contact data is critical to the effectiveness of ID processes, influencing everything from end-to-end fraud prevention to delivering simple ‘non-intrusive’ ID checks; meaning more complex, customer intrusive and costly identity verification practices may not be necessary.
It’s by having access to accurate customer contact details, such as name, address, email and phone number that the verification process is made more reliable. With this data ID verification technology can effectively cross-reference the information provided against official databases, or other authoritative sources, without inconsistencies that could result in false positives or negatives.
It’s important to recognise that the cornerstone of contact data quality is address verification – having a consistently accurate, standardised address. It’s much easier to match and verify identities across multiple sources with up-to-date customer addresses. As a result, verifying the accuracy and legitimacy of an individual’s address should be the first stage in any identity related process, with any inconsistencies between a claimed address and official records highlighting a possible fraudster.
Running the National Change of Address (NCOA) database against your own helps to maintain accurate customer addresses because it provides quick access to the new addresses of customers who have moved home, and highlights who has passed away. This prevents customer communications being sent to incorrect addresses, which could encourage fraud. Also, such data aids retailers in the delivery of a speedy fulfilment process, which ensures a consistent positive customer experience.
Undertake eIDV
“Always on” automated electronic ID verification (eIDV) tools are vital in undertaking ID verification with fraudulent payments on the rise worldwide. They can, in real-time, cross-check the names and addresses - for proof of address - email addresses and phone numbers provided by prospective customers online. This results in a good customer experience while preventing fraud.
It is preferable to source an eIDV platform with access to billions of consumer records from reputable sources around the world. This ensures the delivery of an efficient customer ID verification service, globally.
Maturing technology is enabling eIDV to be offered at a range of affordable options, which is good news for those organisations that operate on tight margins.
Mobile ID verification
With around 60 per cent of the world’s population having access to a smartphone mobile ID verification, which is matching a name to a mobile number, is becoming increasingly important as part of the ID verification process. A key reason why is mobile verification utilises real-time data from mobile network operators (MNOs) to authenticate an individual's identity with a high degree of accuracy, which is unlike traditional identity verification methods that depend on semi-static data.
Additionally, mobile ID verification is often more cost effective when compared to identity verification performed against regulated data sources such as credit bureaus and government bodies.
In summary
As cyberattacks become more frequent and damaging for organisations, implementing clean data practices and employing comprehensive yet affordable global ID verification services will play an increasingly vital role as part of wider cybersecurity efforts.
This guest blog was written by Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa. To learn more about Melissa please visit their LinkedIn page.
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Authors
Barley Laing
UK Managing Director, Melissa
Barley Laing joined Melissa and set up the UK office in 2014 during an exciting expansion phase of the California headquartered company.
As Managing Director, with 27 years of technology and data industry experience, his role is focused on meeting the data quality and ID/compliance needs for organisations in the UK and worldwide.
The team that Barley heads up provides data consultancy, sales and technical support across their wide range of market leading web services, apps, SaaS and on-premise software solutions. These help organisations to deliver efficient multichannel customer engagement; onboarding; build customer loyalty; optimise organisational efficiency; and deliver data management and ID verification to meet Know your Customer (KYC), Know your Business (KYB) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements.
Under his leadership Melissa’s UK office has experienced double digit growth over the last six years, including 20% growth in 2022, and 25% in 2023. Over this period Barley has significantly grown the UK client base, which includes: ASOS; BBC; Citi; Family Fund; the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; GCHQ; GSK; Lambeth Council; Mars; P&G and Visa.
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