Protecting people from online scams and frauds is a never-ending struggle for the good guys. One way to improve the odds is by sharing useful information. And now Google has kicked off a new initiative aiming to do just that.
In a blog post published Wednesday, Google announced a new online clearinghouse called the Global Signal Exchange (GSE). Created in partnership with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) and DNS Research Federation (DNS RF), this clearinghouse will serve as a way to identify and share research on fraudulent activities throughout the world.
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The goal behind the GSE is to more quickly uncover and disrupt online scams and other activities that affect a host of sectors, services, and people. With Google the first founding member, the GSE will be accessible to other qualifying organizations, while access will be managed by GASA and the DNS Research Federation.
To foster its growth and effectiveness, the GSE will tap into the relative strengths of each partner. GASA brings to the table a network of more than 100 members. The DNS Research Federation provides data on a variety of security metrics. And Google has years of experience fighting online scams and fraud. The company already works with Priority Flaggers, who notify it about incidents in which its products and services are used in ways that violate its policies.
In an initial pilot of the GSE, Google was able to share more than 100,000 URLs of fraudulent retailers and receive 1 million scam reports. Next, the company will share Google Shopping URLs that were caught by its scam policies and eventually add data from other products and services. Running on Google Cloud Platform, the GSE will help participants share and receive reports of online fraud and take advantage of AI to find patterns.
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“We know from experience that fighting scams and the criminal organizations behind them requires strong collaboration among industry, businesses, civil society, and governments to combat bad actors and protect users,” Google said in its blog post. “We’re committed to doing our part to protect users, including through our continued work developing tools, publishing research, and sharing expertise and information with others to protect people online.”
In another sign of its battle against cyber fraud, Google revealed that its Cross Account Protection service is now protecting 3.2 billion users. Announced in May, the free Cross-Account Protection automatically kicks in when third-party sites and apps set up the Sign in with Google login feature. This lets the company share security alerts about malicious or suspicious activity with any app or service connected to your Google account. On the flip side, any site or app can use Google’s suspicious event detection to keep your account safer from cybercriminals.