Mastercard’s Digital Transactions deploys Microsoft AI to improve fraud protection | ZDNet

Mastercard and Microsoft announced Monday that the two companies are combining technologies to combat digital fraud. Mastercard’s Digital Transaction Insights will include Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help financial institutions and credit issuers better detect fraud while approving genuine transactions.

According to the press release, the goal of the partnership is to facilitate safe and frictionless online transactions for consumers and business owners. The technology can better defend against fraudsters who get hold of consumer information and use it to dispute legitimate transactions. According to Mastercard, it’s a form of digital fraud that’s becoming more prevalent.

Digital Transaction Insights combats this rising trend. It applies Mastercard’s innovative authentication technology to verify merchant data in order to confirm the consumer’s identity with greater certainty. 

And with the integration of Microsoft’s AI technology, Mastercard’s Digital Transactions can adapt to evolving digital threats. The technology will be used to facilitate most online transactions, including ones made from smartwatches and digital wallets.

“Shopping online should be simple, quick and secure. But that isn’t always the case. We’re committed to developing advanced identity and fraud technology to help enhance the real-time intelligence we provide to financial institutions around the globe,” Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard, said in the press release.

Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection utilizes adaptive AI to detect fraud in real-time by monitoring behaviors for anything abnormal or suspicious. According to the press release, the integration of Microsoft’s technology with Mastercard’s could also improve transaction acceptance rates.

“We are excited to partner with Mastercard to leverage our cloud-native, cutting-edge fraud assessment tools to empower issuers and merchants to prevent more fraud and approve more genuine users,” Charles Lamanna, corporate vice president of business applications and platforms at Microsoft, said in the release.