Cybersecurity and fraud prevention information

Bank of Nevada offers payment solutions to help businesses protect themselves

As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, businesses face increasing threats from phishing, ransomware and identity theft. These attacks can have a significant impact on a company’s financial stability and reputation.

The Bank of Nevada, a division of the FDIC, member Western Alliance Bank, recently hosted a webinar to help organizations understand and combat cybersecurity and fraud risks. Read on to learn how Bank of Nevada can help your business defend against cybercriminals.

How dangerous are fraud attempts for businesses?

Cybercrime is a $1 trillion-a-year industry driven by profits, competition, risk and innovation. Around 80% of organizations across the country have been victims of attempted fraud, which increased by 15% between 2022 and 2023, according to the AFP’s 2024 Payment Fraud and Control Survey Report.

Around 90% of organizations report an increase in fraud attempts. It is essential that businesses implement robust fraud prevention and detection strategies to protect their assets and maintain stakeholder trust.

Cybercriminals attack company assets such as servers, employee devices, networks and media such as USB drives and payment cards.

Steps businesses can take to protect themselves include:

1. Review security practices and technical controls.
2. Develop a cyber incident response plan.
3. Regularly update employee and vendor access levels.
4. Migrate check payments to automated clearing house (ACH) or virtual cards using ePayables or Integrated Payables.
5. Complete Western Alliance Bank’s cybersecurity training.

Choosing payment methods to protect your business

Checks and ACH debits were the most targeted payment methods in 2023. Although 75% of organizations use checks, they are more expensive than other vendor payment methods. They are also the primary way bad actors commit fraud.

“It’s easy for bad actors (or fraudsters) to make changes to checks,” warned George Snow, senior product manager at Western Alliance Bank.

Bank of Nevada offers several alternatives to replace risky check payments and defend against check and ACH fraud:

Positive salary

Check Positive Pay compares your list of checks provided with the checks presented for payment. We only pay the checks you indicate, taking into account the amount and check number.

If exceptions are detected, you will be notified by email or SMS. You will then review the check images online and decide whether to pay or return each exception item.

ACH blocks and ACH positive payment

To protect yourself against unauthorized ACH transactions, you can opt for ACH Blocks and ACH Positive Pay.

ACH Block automatically blocks and returns unauthorized incoming ACH debit transactions. The process becomes an integral part of payment procedures, with little or no day-to-day management.

ACH Positive Pay uses payment rules for pre-approved ACH payments. Rules can be specific to vendors, amounts, time, or a combination. Payments meeting pre-approved rules are automatically accepted. Payments that violate the rules will be presented for review. Unauthorized payments will be returned to the original bank.

Virtual cards and electronic payments

Other electronic payment methods include virtual cards and electronic payments. This eliminates the need for physical checks. This not only reduces your disbursement costs but also provides a secure platform for payments.

Integrated debts

Integrated Payables improves efficiency by providing a single process for making check, wire transfer, ACH and virtual card payments as businesses move from check to electronic payments.

“We’re working to make it easy for you to use these payment types instead of checks,” Snow said.

Find out how our expert bankers can help protect your business against cybercrime. We would also like to outline our commitment to maintaining robust cybersecurity practices to help keep private customer information confidential. Contact a Bank of Nevada relationship manager or find out what our bank can offer businesses like yours.