Velocity abuse poses a significant threat to the travel and ticketing industry, as fraudsters leverage automated tools or multiple account creations to exploit loopholes and manipulate systems. The resulting negative impact can range from monetary losses to a decline in customer trust. Industry professionals, such as IT managers, security officers, and customer experience executives, must prioritize combating velocity abuse in their operations. To help these specialists protect their platforms, this article outlines the top five strategies and their respective tactical implementations for safeguarding travel and ticketing systems from velocity abuse.

Travel industry pros must strike a balance between enabling seamless customer access to their services and implementing robust security measures to prevent fraudulent activities. With the increasing sophistication of threats, industry professionals need to be proactive in adopting diverse defensive approaches that target various avenues exploited by bad actors. By leveraging advanced techniques such as device fingerprinting, IP geolocation analysis, and bot behavior biometrics AI, travel industry professionals can stay one step ahead of the fraudsters.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, industry professionals must remain vigilant and adaptive to emerging trends and technologies. Solutions such as email similarity search and disposable email detection can mitigate the risks associated with multiple account creations. Implementing effective identity verification processes, such as KYC and phone verification, can further strengthen system security. By following the detailed strategies and tactical implementations outlined in this article, travel industry pros can protect their platforms and ensure a secure experience for their customers.

In the upcoming sections, this article will delve deeper into each strategy, exploring their advantages, disadvantages, and practical implementation steps. This comprehensive analysis will enable professionals in the travel and ticketing industry to grasp the intricacies of these strategies and determine the most suitable approach for their specific security needs. Thus, the article aims to empower industry leaders with the knowledge and tools necessary to mitigate velocity abuse effectively and maintain the integrity of their platforms.

Strategy 1: Device and Browser Fingerprinting

What is Device and Browser Fingerprinting?

Device and browser fingerprinting is a technique used to identify and analyze devices by collecting unique characteristics related to the device's hardware and software configurations. These characteristics include the browser's user agent, version, installed plugins, and screen resolution, among other factors. This information forms a "fingerprint" that can be used to track and distinguish between different devices and browsers.

How does it work?

Upon accessing a website or online service, the device sends a request to the server, which includes information about the device and browser being used. This information is then collected and processed to create a fingerprint. The resulting fingerprint is essentially a unique identifier that is difficult to change or spoof and can be used to monitor and detect suspicious behavior on a platform.

Pros & Cons:

• Effectively detects multiple account creations: One of the most significant benefits of device and browser fingerprinting is the ability to identify instances where multiple accounts are created from the same device. This can help flag potential fraud or velocity abuse.
• Helps identify bot-driven operations: Bots use specific configurations that create distinct fingerprints, allowing platforms to detect and block bot-driven activities.
• Privacy concerns: Collecting detailed information about user devices may lead to privacy concerns and potential violations of data protection regulations. Organizations utilizing this technique need to ensure they comply with relevant privacy laws, such as GDPR.
• Requires consistent updates to identify new browser versions and devices: Fingerprints may become outdated as new browser versions, plugins, and devices are released. It is essential to keep fingerprint-related information up-to-date to maintain its effectiveness.

Tactical Implementation:

• Choose and integrate a device/browser fingerprinting solution with your platform: Research various fingerprinting providers, considering factors such as features, cost, and accuracy. Then, select a provider that meets your organization's requirements and integrate it into your platform.
• Create a database to store fingerprint records for monitoring and detection: Develop a database to keep track of the fingerprints collected and their associated accounts. This will allow you to monitor and search for suspicious patterns or multiple account creations from the same device.
• Set up a system to compare incoming fingerprints with known suspicious patterns: Implement a process in which incoming fingerprints can be compared against previously identified suspicious patterns or fingerprints linked to fraudulent activity. This will enable the early detection of potential velocity abusers.
• Implement an alert mechanism to notify security teams of potential fraud: Establish a real-time alert system that informs security personnel when a suspicious fingerprint is detected. This allows for swift investigation and action against potential fraudsters.

Strategy 2: IP Geolocation and Impossible Travel

What is IP Geolocation and Impossible Travel?

IP Geolocation and Impossible Travel are strategies used to detect and prevent fraud by analyzing the geographic locations associated with user activities. IP Geolocation is the process of pinpointing a user's geographical location based on their IP address. Impossible Travel refers to detecting and flagging situations where a user appears to be in two separate locations within an unrealistically short time frame, typically indicating fraudulent behavior.

How does it work?

By integrating an IP geolocation service with your platform, you can obtain information about the user's location based on their IP address. This information can include the country, region, city, latitude, longitude, and even postal code. By analyzing and comparing users' login times with their IP-derived geolocation data, you can identify cases of Impossible Travel, which may indicate that an account has been compromised, is being used by multiple people, or is being accessed by automated bots.

Pros & Cons:

• Identifies suspicious logins and access attempts: By tracking user location data and detecting instances of impossible travel, you can quickly identify suspicious activity that may be indicative of fraud or unauthorized access to customer accounts.
• Useful for preventing unauthorized access: This strategy can help you to identify accounts that could be compromised, allowing for proactive security measures to be taken and ultimately protecting your customers.
• May trigger false positives due to legitimate use of VPNs for security purposes: Some users may employ VPNs to mask their true location for privacy or security reasons. This can result in false positives if their VPN-assigned IP address is flagged as being in an impossible location.
• Potentially impacted by geolocation inaccuracy: IP geolocation may not always be accurate, especially for mobile devices or users with dynamic IP addresses. In some cases, this can lead to false positives or negatives in your impossible travel detection system.

Tactical Implementation:

• Integrate an IP geolocation service with your system: Choose a reliable IP geolocation service provider and incorporate it into your platform, enabling you to gather location data for each user based on their IP address.
• Develop algorithms to detect rapid changes in geographic locations: Create algorithms that analyze user login times and IP-derived location data to identify instances of impossible travel. Establish thresholds for what constitutes an unrealistic change in location within a certain timeframe.
• Set up a system for manual review of flagged impossible travel scenarios: When the algorithm detects a case of impossible travel, ensure that your security team is alerted so they can manually verify the situation and take appropriate action in the case of fraud or unauthorized access.
• Utilize machine learning to improve accuracy over time: As you gather more data and learn from both true and false positives, incorporate machine learning algorithms to refine your detection capabilities and minimize false alarms. Adapt and improve your algorithms as new patterns and trends emerge.

Strategy 3: Bot Behavior Biometrics AI

What is Bot Behavior Biometrics AI?

Bot Behavior Biometrics AI refers to advanced, machine-learned analysis of user behavior on your platform in order to intelligently detect and prevent activity by bots, particularly those designed to abuse velocity controls. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms are applied to user behavior data to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies indicative of bot-driven operations.

How does it work?

By analyzing user behavior, including but not limited to mouse movements, keystrokes, and click patterns, Bot Behavior Biometrics AI aims to differentiate bot-driven actions from those of genuine human users. Machine learning algorithms continuously adapt and learn from new data to enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of bot detection over time. Typically, when suspicious activity is detected, the system will act to block the potential bot or trigger an additional verification process to confirm the legitimacy of the user.

Pros & Cons:

• Effectively detects and blocks bot-driven activities: Bot Behavior Biometrics AI can significantly reduce the frequency and impact of bot-driven velocity abuse by flagging and addressing suspicious activity in real time.

  
  

• Reduces credential stuffing attacks: By identifying and blocking bots, Bot Behavior Biometrics AI helps protect your platform from credential stuffing attacks, where cybercriminals use stolen account credentials to take over user accounts.

  
  

• May require continuous tweaking based on evolving bot behavior: As bots become more sophisticated and their behavior changes, the AI algorithms and detection methods need to be continuously updated to maintain top-notch detection accuracy.

  
  

• False positives can affect legitimate users: While advanced algorithms can greatly reduce false positive rates, there is still potential for legitimate user activity to be incorrectly flagged as bot-driven, potentially disrupting genuine customer experience.

  
  

Tactical Implementation:

1. Choose and integrate a bot behavior biometrics AI solution with your platform, ensuring it is compatible with your existing tech stack and security infrastructure. Examples of such solutions include companies like Forter and PointPredictive.

   
   

2. Monitor user behavior patterns in real time, feeding this data into the AI system for ongoing analysis and detection of abnormalities that may indicate bot-driven activity. This may involve collecting and analyzing data concerning things like mouse movements, time between actions, click patterns, and more.

   
   

3. Regularly update AI algorithms to counter evolving bot strategies and stay ahead of cybercriminals. Stay up-to-date with industry advancements and bot trends to better anticipate and respond to new threats.

   
   

4. Implement a guided manual override process for flagged users as a safety net. If the AI flags a user as potentially using a bot, instead of blocking them outright, you might trigger an additional verification step, like a CAPTCHA or two-factor authentication process, to confirm the legitimacy of the user before taking further action. This can reduce the impact of false positives on genuine users.

   
   

Strategy 4: Email Similarity Search and Disposable Email Detection

What is Email Similarity Search and Disposable Email Detection?

Email Similarity Search and Disposable Email Detection are methods used by travel and ticketing industry professionals to prevent velocity abuse by monitoring email addresses used during user registration, ticket purchase, or other transactions. Email Similarity Search involves analyzing the similarity between email addresses in order to detect multiple accounts created by the same user, while Disposable Email Detection focuses on identifying temporary, often throwaway, email addresses that may be used for fraudulent purposes.

How does it work?

Email Similarity Search compares various aspects of email addresses, such as domain names, patterns, characters, and sequences, to determine their similarity. An algorithm is used to generate a similarity score based on these parameters, with higher scores indicating a more significant resemblance between the addresses. When email addresses with high similarity scores are detected, they may be flagged for further review.

Disposable Email Detection identifies email addresses associated with known temporary or disposable email service providers. These providers allow users to create short-term email addresses, which can be used to bypass registration requirements, enable spam, or commit fraudulent activities. By detecting and blocking such addresses, organizations can better control fraudulent account creation and ensure user legitimacy.

Pros & Cons:

• Reduces multiple account creations: By identifying and flagging email addresses with high similarity scores or from disposable email providers, you can reduce the number of fraudulent accounts created on your platform.
• Limits the use of disposable email addresses for fraudulent purposes: Blocking disposable email addresses makes it more difficult for cybercriminals to bypass registration requirements and engage in illegal activities on your platform.
• False positives can impact legitimate users with similar email addresses: An overly strict email similarity threshold can potentially flag genuine users who happen to have similar email addresses, causing inconvenience and potentially negatively impacting user experience.
• Email similarity thresholds must be carefully balanced: Setting a threshold too high or too low may result in either missing potential threats or inadvertently blocking legitimate users. It is vital to strike the right balance to maintain security without compromising usability.

Tactical Implementation:

• Integrate email similarity and disposable email detection tools within user registration workflows: Choose a reliable tool or service that will automatically analyze email addresses during the user registration process and flag any potential threats.
• Develop a blacklist of known disposable email providers: Regularly update this list to include new and emerging disposable email providers that may be used by cybercriminals.
• Set an allowed email similarity threshold to prevent false positives: Determine an appropriate threshold based on your organization's risk tolerance and user base to ensure that genuine users are not mistakenly flagged.
• Implement a user re-verification process for flagged email addresses: When an email address is flagged as potentially suspicious, require the user to complete additional verification steps, such as providing an alternate, non-disposable email address or verifying their identity through a secondary channel. This protects your platform while minimizing the inconvenience for legitimate users.

Strategy 5: KYC and Phone Verification

What is KYC and Phone Verification?

Know Your Customer (KYC) is a process in which an organization verifies the identity of its customers, ensuring that they are legitimate and not involved in fraudulent activities. In the travel and ticketing industry, one effective way to conduct KYC is through phone verification. It involves validating a user's phone number during the registration or purchase process.

How does it work?

When a user creates an account or makes a purchase, they are asked to provide their phone number. The system then sends a unique code to the provided number via SMS or voice call. The user then enters the code on the platform to verify their phone number. By using this method, businesses can ensure that a user has provided a valid phone number, adding an extra layer of security against fraud.

Pros & Cons:

• Improves overall user verification: Conducting KYC and phone verification strengthens the security of customer accounts, making it more challenging for fraudsters to pose as genuine users. As a result, it may lead to reduced cases of velocity abuse.

  
  

• Reduces the risk of identity theft: Verifying users through phone numbers protects the platform from fake accounts and identity theft, which can help prevent fraud and potential legal issues.

  
  

• Slower registration process for users: A drawback of phone verification is that it adds an extra step to the registration process, which can be frustrating for users who want to quickly make a purchase.

  
  

• Requires extra resources for manual verification: Companies that require manual verification (for instance, when a user fails phone verification or is unable to receive the SMS/voice call) need to allocate resources to handle these situations, which can be time-consuming and costly.

  
  

Tactical Implementation:

• Choose a KYC and phone verification provider: To implement KYC and phone verification, start by selecting a reliable service provider that specializes in this area. Compare various providers' pricing, features, and capabilities, and choose one that aligns with your business requirements.

  
  

• Implement an identity verification workflow during registration and ticket purchase: Integrate the selected KYC and phone verification solution into your platform's user registration and ticket purchase processes. Ensure that the workflow is smooth and user-friendly to minimize friction during these crucial steps.

  
  

• Conduct routine audits to ensure compliance with relevant data privacy regulations: To maintain trust with your customers and ensure compliance, periodically audit your KYC and phone verification processes. Make sure you follow local and international data privacy regulations, such as the GDPR and CCPA.

  
  

• Use alternate verification methods in cases where phone verification isn't viable: For users who cannot receive SMS or voice calls (due to network issues, traveling abroad, or device limitations), offer alternative methods of verification, such as email or manual ID verification. This way, you can accommodate a diverse range of customers without sacrificing security.

  
  

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

As a travel industry professional, safeguarding your business and customers against velocity abuse is of utmost importance. By implementing the top 5 strategies discussed in this article, you can effectively prevent and identify potential fraud, secure your system, and maintain a high level of trust from your customer base.

To sum up, the top 5 strategies are:

1. Device and Browser Fingerprinting: Identify and block multiple account creations by tracking unique device and browser fingerprints.
2. IP Geolocation and Impossible Travel: Detect unusual logins and access attempts by monitoring geographic locations of user activities.
3. Bot Behavior Biometrics AI: Counter bot-driven activities and reduce credential stuffing attacks by analyzing user behavior in real-time.
4. Email Similarity Search and Disposable Email Detection: Limit multiple account creations and restrict the use of disposable email addresses for nefarious purposes.
5. KYC and Phone Verification: Enhance user verification by implementing Know Your Customer (KYC) and phone verification during registration and ticket purchase.

Moving forward, assess the current state of your organization's cybersecurity posture and identify the most effective strategies relevant to your unique context. Engage with cybersecurity vendors and solution providers to implement the appropriate tools and technologies, and ensure your team is well-trained to handle potential threats and incidents.

Finally, stay informed about the latest trends and updates in cybersecurity and fraud prevention -- as cybercriminals continue to evolve, so must your strategies and defenses. By staying vigilant and adhering to best practices, you can protect your travel and ticketing business from the threats of velocity abuse and continue to build a trusted platform for your customers.