Using AI, Mastercard expects to find compromised cards quicker, before they get used by criminals

abcnews.go.com:

Mastercard says it expects to be able to discover that your credit or debit card number has been compromised well before it ends up in the hands of a cybercriminal

NEW YORK — Mastercard said Wednesday that it expects to be able to discover that your credit or debit card number has been compromised well before it ends up in the hands of a cybercriminal.

In its latest software update rolling out this week, Mastercard is integrating artificial intelligence into its fraud-prediction technology that it expects will be able to see patterns in stolen cards faster and allow banks to replace them before they are used by criminals.

“Generative AI is going to allow to figure out where did you perhaps get your credentials compromised, how do we identify how it possibly happened, and how do we very quickly remedy that situation not only for you, but the other customers who don't know they are compromised yet,” said Johan Gerber, executive vice president of security and cyber innovation at Mastercard, in an interview.

Mastercard, which is based in Purchase, New York, says with this new update it can use other patterns or contextual information, such as geography, time and addresses, and combine it with incomplete but compromised credit card numbers that appear in databases to get to the cardholders sooner to replace the bad card.

The patterns can now also be used in reverse, potentially using batches of bad cards to see potentially compromised merchants or payment processors. The pattern recognition goes beyond what humans could do through database inquiries or other standard methods, Gerber said.

Billions of stolen credit card and debit card numbers are floating in the dark web, available for purchase by any criminal. Most were