Mastercard's Early Detection System provides issuers with advanced alerts for cards and accounts at a heightened risk of fraudulent use based on exposure in security incidents, such as the Equifax breach. 

It can take as little as nine minutes for hackers to use stolen data posted to the dark web, according to Mastercard. Knowing that not all compromised accounts become fraud casualties and every second counts, Mastercard developed Early Detection System to help financial institutions act faster, thus preempting more serious attacks.

Using Mastercard network insights, predictive capabilities and a combination of internal and external data sources, Early Detection System determines if a card or account is at risk and sends an alert to the issuer with a quantification of the level of risk. The issuer then uses the level of risk to more accurately prioritize what action to take, from monitoring transactions more closely to proactively issuing a replacement card.