eBay's 1st Trust & Safety employee to 1st Female Founder in Fraud Technology | Laura Mather - Legend

Fraudology is presented by Sardine. Get your tickets to Sardine[Con] and end the scamedmic

In this episode of Fraudology, Karisse gets to talk with someone she has long admired, but just got to meet for this episode, cybersecurity expert Laura Mather. Laura is a true "OG" in online fraud prevention, and she shares some crazy stories about the very beginning of internet fraud from her days as the first "Trust & Safety Policy" employee for eBay that helped both Karisse & Laura realize that while it doesn't always seem like it, the fight against online fraud has come a long way.

Laura then shares how her PHD in Mathematics and her time as a mathematics researcher at the NSA (National Security Administration for the US) prepared her for her historic achievements while at eBay during its formative years. She then shares how that time, solving problems that most online companies hadn't faced yet, sparked the vision for Silvertail, the first fraud prevention company founded by a female. Silvertail's abilities were 1st of its kind in the fraud technology space, earning them hundreds of fast-growing start-ups in e-commerce beginning in 2008. In 2012, EMC, owned by RSA purchased Silvertail for an undisclosed sum, making it one of the first fraud technology vendors to be acquired.

In this conversation, Laura shares several of the lessons gleaned from building, scaling, and selling a massive fraud technology company. As well as the added lessons she's learned about the reincarnation of even better, more effective solutions as technological capabilities continue to expand. Karisse & Laura both agree that "stagnant" detection technology is no way to compete with adversaries that are continually innovating and mention how they often get frustrated with companies that choose to double down on marketing ploys rather than product improvements.

Since founding & exiting SilverTail, Laura has gone on to found a company focused on better understanding the root causes of DEI issues, and has been a board member & advisor to a handful of unique technology companies focused on providing cybersecurity & fraud prevention to their clients. One of those lucky technology companies that Laura advises is the current sponsor of Fraudology, Spec! Thanks to Spec for making this introduction..you all were right! Karisse & Laura became instant "fraud (prevention) friends"!

To connect with Laura on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-mather/

Fraudology is hosted by Karisse Hendrick, a fraud fighter with decades of experience advising hundreds of the biggest ecommerce companies in the world on fraud, chargebacks, and other forms of abuse impacting a company's bottom line.

Connect with her on LinkedIn

She brings her experience, expertise, and extensive network of experts to this podcast weekly, on Tuesdays.