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Visa's 24/7 war room takes on global cybercriminals

Visa's 24/7 war room takes on global cybercriminals

Japan Times07-07-2025
In the heart of Data Center Alley, a patch of suburban Washington where much of the world's internet traffic flows, Visa operates its global fraud command center.
The numbers that the payments giant grapples with are enormous.
Every year, $15 trillion flows through Visa's networks, representing roughly 15% of the world's economy. And bad actors constantly try to siphon off some of that money.
Modern fraudsters vary dramatically in sophistication.
To stay ahead, Visa has invested $12 billion over the past five years building artificial intelligence-powered cyber fraud detection capabilities, knowing that criminals are also spending big.
"You have everybody from a single individual threat actor looking to make a quick buck all the way to really corporatized criminal organizations that generate tens or hundreds of millions of dollars annually from fraud and scam activities," Michael Jabbara, Visa's global head of fraud solutions, said during a tour of the company's security campus.
"These organizations are very structured in how they operate."
The best-resourced criminal syndicates now focus on scams that directly target consumers, enticing them into purchases or transactions by manipulating their emotions.
"Consumers are continuously vulnerable. They can be exploited, and that's where we've seen a much higher incidence of attacks recently," Jabbara said.
Scam centers
The warning signs are clear: anything that seems too good to be true online is suspicious, and romance opportunities with strangers from distant countries are especially dangerous.
"What you don't realize is that the person you're chatting with is more likely than not in a place like Myanmar," Jabbara warned.
He said human-trafficking victims are forced to work in multibillion-dollar cyber scam centers built by Asian crime networks in Myanmar's lawless border regions.
The most up-to-date fraud techniques are systematic and quietly devastating.
Once criminals obtain your card information, they automatically distribute it across numerous merchant websites that generate small recurring charges — amounts low enough that victims may not notice for months.
Some of these operations increasingly resemble legitimate tech companies, offering services and digital products to fraudsters much like Google or Microsoft cater to businesses.
On the dark web, criminals can purchase comprehensive fraud toolkits.
"You can buy the software. You can buy a tutorial on how to use the software. You can get access to a mule network on the ground or you can get access to a bot network" to carry out denial-of-service attacks that overwhelm servers with traffic, effectively shutting them down.
Just as cloud computing lowered barriers for startups by eliminating the need to build servers, "the same type of trend has happened in the cyber crime and fraud space," Jabbara explained.
These off-the-shelf services can also enable bad actors to launch brute force attacks on an industrial scale — using repeated payment attempts to crack a card's number, expiry date, and security code.
The sophistication extends to corporate-style management, Jabbara said.
Some criminal organizations now employ chief risk officers who determine operational risk appetite.
They might decide that targeting government infrastructure and hospitals generates an excessive amount of attention from law enforcement and is too risky to pursue.
'Millions of attacks'
To combat these unprecedented threats, Jabbara leads a payment scam disruption team focused on understanding criminal methodologies.
From a small room called the Risk Operations Center in Virginia, employees analyze data streams on multiple screens, searching for patterns that distinguish fraudulent activity from legitimate credit card use.
In the larger Cyber Fusion Center, staff monitor potential cyberattacks targeting Visa's own infrastructure around the clock.
"We deal with millions of attacks across different parts of our network," Jabbara noted, emphasizing that most are handled automatically without human intervention.
Visa maintains identical facilities in London and Singapore, ensuring 24-hour global vigilance.
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Qudan Rie: The 'Sympathy Tower Tokyo' Author on Language and Rhythm

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This memory of her childhood self, desperately trying to find a way to mend her parents' broken relationship and the breakdown in communication, alongside her feelings of disappointment and failure, have stayed with her. 'That might be part of what made me so interested in language and communication,' she says. (© Hanai Tomoko) Rhythm More Important than Literal Meaning in Translation Over the past few years, Qudan has become an enthusiastic gym-goer, inspired by the example of Mishima, who began serious bodybuilding when he was 30. She believes there is a close relationship between the body and literary style, and is convinced that her prose has changed as her body has become leaner and more honed. She is also a music lover, listening to everything from classical to hip-hop. Just as with music, she says, 'in writing too, rhythm is vital.' Given that Qudan is so particular about language and style, how does she feel about translation, now that her novel is appearing in so many different languages around the world? 'When I met Jesse Kirkwood [who translated Sympathy Tower Tokyo into English] last year, I told him I wanted him to prioritize the rhythm of the English, even if some of the meaning from the original text might be lost. 'I don't have big hang-ups about accuracy. Readability in English is much more important. Jesse had already translated a short story of mine.' (' Planet Her, or the Oldest Female Rapper in the World.') In that story, it would have been impossible to translate all the Japanese rhymes, so in that sense it's not faithful to the original. But I felt he was sensitive to the rhythm. When I understood that he was thinking seriously about the rhythmical demands of English, I knew I could trust him absolutely as a translator.' Tōkyō to dōjōtō (left) and Sympathy Tower Tokyo , the English translation due to be published in August. (Courtesty Shinchōsha) Writing by Japanese women has been attracting attention overseas in recent years. At first, even Qudan suspected that the widespread interest in translating her novel was thanks to a perfect trifecta of on-trend hot topics: 'AI,' 'Akutagawa Prize,' and 'Japanese woman writer.' But after attending events at book fairs in Taiwan and Italy this year, she says she has been struck by how genuinely enthusiastic her overseas publishers are about her work. 'My Italian publisher, L'Ippocampo, normally specializes in visual and children's books. They rarely publish novels, and this was obviously the first time they'd published one from Japan. I learned that the decision to translate and publish my novel came from the personal enthusiasm of an editor passionate about Japanese culture and literature. That really made me appreciate how vital such passion is to the process of translating and publishing a work in another country.' What kind of rhythms will Sympathy Tower Tokyo beat out in languages worldwide? And what surprising topics will Qudan turn to next to delight her readers? We look forward to her next imaginative journey. Referenced Works Works by Qudan Rie mentioned in the text: Tōkyō to dōjōtō is translated as Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Jesse Kirkwood is translated as by Jesse Kirkwood 'Kage no ame' (Shadow Rain) has no English translation Schoolgirl and Warui ongaku are translated as Schoolgirl and Bad Music by Haydn Trowell and published together as Schoolgirl and are translated as and by Haydn Trowell and published together as Shi o kaku uma (Horses that Write Poems) has no English translation (Horses that Write Poems) has no English translation 'Planet Her: Arui wa saiko no fimēru rappā' is translated as 'Planet Her, or the Oldest Female Rapper in the World' by Jesse Kirkwood Joseito by Dazai Osamu is translated as Schoolgirl by Allison Markin Powell by Dazai Osamu is translated as by Allison Markin Powell Kinkakuji by Mishima Yukio is translated as The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Ivan Morris. (Originally written in Japanese by Kimie Itakura of and published on July 18, 2025. Banner image: Qudan Rie on the roof of the Shinchōsha building in Shinjuku, Tokyo. © Hanai Tomoko.)

Senior 'JP Dragon' crime ring member jailed for 42 months
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timea day ago

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Senior 'JP Dragon' crime ring member jailed for 42 months

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NPA white paper highlights crimes surrounding social media
NPA white paper highlights crimes surrounding social media

Japan Times

timea day ago

  • Japan Times

NPA white paper highlights crimes surrounding social media

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