USSD remains an important access channel for mobile-money services, particularly in markets where customers use feature phones or have limited access to mobile data.
The channel supports account access, balance enquiries, transfers, payments, cash-out and other financial services through short-code sessions.
Protecting the channel requires visibility into USSD activity and the network context surrounding it. Relevant information can include USSD sessions, MSISDN, IMSI, IMEI, authentication, signalling and transaction activity.
Neural Technologies provides mobile money protection solutions that help operators monitor and assess fraud risk across USSD and other mobile-money channels.
USSD fraud can involve suspicious session activity, unauthorized use of customer credentials, unusual authentication behavior or transactions that do not align with expected usage.
Relevant areas for monitoring can include:
USSD activity can be assessed alongside mobile-network identifiers and device information, including:
Connecting these data points can provide additional context around the subscriber, subscription and device associated with USSD activity.
USSD activity can be assessed alongside relevant signaling and subscriber information to provide additional context for fraud monitoring.
Depending on the network environment, this may include signaling information associated with SS7/SIGTRAN, Diameter and other network protocols, as well as subscriber, authentication, mobility and device-related events.
Neural Technologies' Signaling Stack provides telecom-grade signaling capabilities across 2G/3G, 4G and 5G environments, with support for security, real-time analytics, device verification, fraud detection and mobile-payment use cases.
Connecting signaling intelligence with USSD, subscriber and transaction information can provide additional context when assessing potentially suspicious activity.
USSD sessions can be monitored alongside relevant authentication and transaction information.
For example:
USSD Session → Authentication Activity → Transaction
Monitoring these events together can provide more context than assessing the transaction alone.
Detection can support different responses depending on the assessed risk and the operator's processes.
Potential controls include:
The appropriate response depends on the operator's risk policies, customer processes and available information.
Neural Technologies' Mobile Money Protection approach brings together identity, mobile channels, devices, accounts, transactions and behavioral signals to assess risk in context.
Explore Mobile Money Protection: Fraud, Risk and Financial Crime Prevention for the broader approach to protecting mobile-money services.
Speak to Neural Technologies about USSD fraud protection, signalling intelligence and mobile-money risk management.