Another arrow in the quiver: Mastercard strengthens cybersecurity consulting practice with new Cyber Front threat simulation platform

To help customers strengthen their cyber resilience, Mastercard has invested in risk quantification, always-on security monitoring and fraud prevention in recent years

With global cybercrime expected to cost $10.5 trillion USD annually by 2025¹, innovating cybersecurity remains critical across industries facing rapid digitization. Today, Mastercard announced the launch of new attack simulation and assessment platform Cyber Front, enabled by a strategic minority investment in Picus Security. The tool will help businesses and governments enhance their cybersecurity operational resilience as part of Mastercard’s growing Cybersecurity & Risk consulting practice.

Cyber Front, an always-on platform, helps customers strengthen digital ecosystems by validating the effectiveness of their cybersecurity controls to prevent and detect threats. By leveraging a continuously updated library of more than 3,500 real-world threat scenarios, Cyber Front reveals security gaps and provides mitigation insights in real-time so organizations can improve upon cybersecurity investments with continuous validation. Ultimately, the goal is for organizations to understand if their current systems are effective and identify areas of exposure to ensure greater protection in both the immediate and long term.

“We’re helping customers embrace the opportunities—and challenges—of digital transformation. Given the rising cost of data breaches, effective cyber security is tops on that list. Organizations not only need robust defenses today, they need to be testing, learning and adapting to remain resilient tomorrow,” said Raj Seshadri, president of Data & Services at Mastercard. “Our investment in Picus Security and the launch of Cyber Front will enable swifter, smarter cybersecurity decisions with better outcomes for our customers, their employees and, ultimately, their users.”

Picus’ technology has been recognized by experts, including research firm Frost & Sullivan, for innovation in Breach and Attack Simulation. “Mastercard’s investment in Picus underscores the completeness of our technology to provide ongoing protection against the latest cyber threats. We look forward to working together strategically to address today’s security challenges,” said H. Alper Memis, CEO and Co-founder of Picus Security.

A history of innovative investments in cybersecurity technology

Mastercard has a demonstrated history of investing in emerging cybersecurity technologies that provide clients an inside-out and outside-in view of their cyber risk. RiskRecon’s pioneering, “outside-in” third-party risk scanning and evaluation technologies help customers worldwide assess enterprise and vendor risks, while Cyber Quant helps over 1,000 clients gain an “inside out” view of their internal security risks and quantify them in financial terms. In tandem, these solutions help power our multi-layered approach to addressing cyber risk by combining advanced AI with public and proprietary data sources.

The addition of Cyber Front will expand our comprehensive and actionable data-driven services that help companies drive performance and minimize risks enterprise-wide. These range from authorization and fraud diagnostics to consumer and portfolio insights to consulting and marketing services.

Cybersecurity experience and consulting expertise in action

Pairing Mastercard’s unparalleled cybersecurity experience with consulting expertise, the Cybersecurity & Risk Practice helps customers secure their digital transformation journey and broader business ecosystems in innovative ways. This is part of Mastercard’s strategic expansion of consulting capabilities, demonstrated most recently by its announcement of new practices.

Recently, Mastercard’s consulting team partnered on an 18-month educational program with the Paris Chamber of Commerce to enhance cyber resiliency for approximately 5,000 small businesses, helping them to identify the financial impacts of cyber risk and providing clear recommendations and guidance on limiting exposure. The Cybersecurity & Risk Practice has also worked with Banco Industrial, Guatemala’s largest financial institution, to help them better understand their cyber risk exposure across their ecosystem of companies.

A global view of cyber resilience

This work continues Mastercard’s strong focus on strengthening cyber protections and intelligence globally. In December 2021, Mastercard and Europol signed a partnership to share insights, identify key activities and increase cyber resilience across Europe, building on the launch of the Mastercard Cyber Resilience Centre in Waterloo, Belgium. In Vancouver, Canada, Mastercard continues to invest in its Global Intelligence & Cyber Centre of Excellence, which focuses on accelerating innovation in digital and cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.

Mastercard’s minority investment in Picus has been completed; terms were not disclosed.

More information on Mastercard consulting practices, practice leaders and broader services portfolio can be found at www.mastercardservices.com.

¹ Morgan. (2020, November 13). Cybercrime To Cost The World $10.5 Trillion Annually By 2025. Cybercrime Magazine. https://cybersecurityventures.com/cybercrime-damages-6-trillion-by-2021/