Revisions to the 3DS security protocol have helped drive down e-commerce fraud by 36% in the past 12 months, despite a significant uptick in online shopping, according to an analysis by LexiNexis Risk Solutions.

The updated 3DS 2.x protocol, currently being rolled out around the world, includes support for mobile payments and methods of two-factor authentication and is being more frequently introduced as part of the drive towards Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).

The decline in attack rates comes amid continued digital adoption, with a 21% increase in e-commerce transactions over the last year, driven in part by a 182% growth in buy now, pay later transactions, as well as the huge shift towards ecommerce driven by the global pandemic.

Stephen Topliss, vice president of fraud and identity for LexisNexis Risk Solutions, comments: “Today’s results speak positively of the revised 3DS 2.x protocol and its impact on protecting consumers and businesses from fraud risk, made possible by our evolving regulatory environment.

“The ability to more easily leverage a global network of online behaviour, locational data, device analysis and other inputs within the 3DS protocol means that issuing banks and merchants can more accurately identify both criminals and legitimate, trusted users.”

The nine percent decline in automated bot attacks seen across e-commerce is in sharp contrast to a significant rise in attacks against media (174%) and financial services (28%) businesses. LexisNexis Digital Identity Network detected 189m bot attacks levelled against e-commerce, and a further 683m against financial services and 351m against the media industry in the first half of 2021.