Fraud Prevention and Device Fingerprinting

As hacking methods evolve, it’s important that companies take a multi-faceted approach to fraud detection and prevention. Device fingerprinting is a powerful tool that can be used to detect certain types of attacks, such as RDP abuse. However, bad actors often scale their attack to multiple devices and use tactics that bypass fingerprinting.

Device fingerprinting fraud detection for RDP abuse is the collection of attributes a website or app notices about a user’s hardware and software configuration, which can then be assigned to a unique ID. The device ID is then stored in a database on the server-side, allowing businesses to recognize connections between devices and highlight motivated fraudulent activities. The data gathered from device fingerprinting can include things like geolocation, IP address, hardware model, browser and operating system settings, typing speeds, battery life, phone orientation signals and more.

Using Device Fingerprinting to Combat RDP Abuse and Fraud

This information is then analyzed to identify potential connections between users, including things like the rate at which they engage with the site or app. This information can then be used to inform decisions such as blocking users who are engaging with the website at an unusually high rate or triggering additional authentication prompts for suspicious behavior.

In addition to detecting RDP abuse, device fingerprinting can be used to help prevent first-party fraud (also known as bot-created accounts). By giving businesses a sense of whether traffic is originating from a genuine user or a malicious account, they can better protect their customers from experiences such as ticket scalping, Nike shoe drops and other forms of fake promotional activity.