Securing the Digital Economy Requires Trust

In our increasingly digital world, trust has become an invaluable commodity. It enables the

connections that power our businesses, and it is the glue that binds us to our customers. Yet—as the adage goes—while trust may take years to build, it can be shattered in an instant.

With every technological advance adopted by organizations, there are those who nefariously seek to take advantage, harming innocent businesses through cyberattacks and extortion. Last year, the average cost of a data breach, such as a ransomware attack, was $4.5 million.

This can be ruinous for some businesses and leave lasting reputational damage for all, no matter their size or how deep their pockets.

But just as the cybersecurity risks we face grow and evolve, so do our efforts to combat them.

What can businesses do to increase security? Assess the risk.

Businesses of all shapes and sizes across sectors know that they must act, and that they can’t afford to risk leaving their virtual doors unlocked. Seventy percent of board-level directors see cybercrime as a strategic risk to their business, and they are starting to fight back.

In the past, preventive action typically occurred in response to a cyberattack—similar to how a homeowner might install an alarm after a robbery. Thankfully, today, it possible to defend against threats you don’t expect, before they happen.

At Mastercard, we can identify and expose threats, and then protect systems before they are attacked. Using cutting-edge technologies, we are monitoring more than 14 million entities globally. At the same time, we assess these organizations and their third-party relationships for any vulnerable points of access, providing recommendations for necessary repairs, before it’s too late.

Being able to assess risk and protect against cyberattacks is game-changing for businesses. Many organizations deploying this technology have reduced their risk exposure by 50%.

Evolving protection

New uses of AI are being discussed in every boardroom at the moment, and while the influence of this futuristic technology on our day-to-day lives is still evolving, behind the scenes, it is rapidly improving cybersecurity. At Mastercard, our pioneering AI-enabled cyber shield protects organizations by using automation to diagnose and repair potential vulnerabilities in cyber defenses.

These defense capabilities are crucial, and to stay one step ahead, we also need to be able to learn from cybercriminals themselves. By laying decoy “honeypots,” we can now observe patterns of criminal behavior before an attack takes place.

This level of sophistication was nothing more than fantasy a decade ago, but today it is a powerful reality. Evidence of success comes in the form of our targeted AI-based cyber solutions, which have saved over $35 billion in fraud across our network in just the last three years.

Organizing the future

We have decades of invaluable experience tackling cybercrime, but to continue to build on it, we must work together. Alongside our public- and private-sector partners in universities, governments, technology firms and banks, we must seek to advance the world’s cyber defenses, and put the standards in place to protect those most vulnerable to attack through education, leadership and innovation.

At Mastercard, we are doing this not just to support the digital economy, but also to expand it where it is most challenged. By helping to secure the digital economies of emerging regions, we are enabling businesses to grow and prosper, and with our global view, we can provide the insight to help organizations recognize the threats they face.

Recently, Africa was singled out as having the greatest potential digital growth of any region. But the same report also found that 90% of African businesses did not have the necessary cybersecurity protections in place, posing a massive threat to the continent’s economy.

Through the Mastercard Trust Centre, which was established in 2021 with a $250 million commitment, we are helping small businesses by offering free online access to trusted cybersecurity research, education, resources and tools.

Creating a brave new world

These steps are taken knowing that cyber risk is not going away and will continue to evolve. So, we remain laser-focused on protecting our customers and their systems by staying one step ahead of emerging cyber threats.

The progress we are making allows organizations, wherever they are, to protect themselves and their supply chains while nurturing that invaluable commodity: trust. It remains the strongest tool in our arsenal to safeguard the digital economy in years to come.

By Ajay Bhalla, President of Cyber and Intelligence, Mastercard