With more than 500 identities stolen every year, identity theft has become an uncontrollable epidemic, but thankfully there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself. It isn’t just individuals falling victim to these callous crimes either, businesses are also susceptible to identity theft.
Whether cybercriminals run up fraudulent credits or get their hands on financial details, identity theft within a business can have some seriously damaging effects not only on CEOs and business owners, but on employees and customers as well. What can you do to protect your business from identity theft? The team at Rads Document Storage provides some simple steps you can take to help prevent business identity theft.
Ditch the Simple Passwords
Seems pretty simple, right? Wrong. An unsettling number of businesses still use generic and simple passwords to protect sensitive information. It might take a while for employees to get used to new random passwords, but it’s better than having the business’ bank account wiped out by fraudsters.
You should create unique passwords for every single site and portal so that if by any chance a cybercriminal does guess one of your passwords, they cannot gain access to other private information that is protected by that same exact password.
Passwords provide a wealth of illegal opportunities for hackers, so your business should follow strict and smart password guidelines, which include regularly changing passwords, limiting the number of employees who know passwords and protecting sensitive data with hard to crack security.
Go Digital
Paper bank statement and credit card bills are a gold mine for fraudsters, and they will use the data to attack businesses. To limit access to such information, you should adopt a paperless approach where possible. While it isn’t realistic for all businesses to go paperless in a bid to reduce identity theft, businesses can make small changes that will make a huge difference. Receiving financial statements digitally will save money, time and will ultimately help in the fight against cybercrime.
Crack Down on Fraudulent Emails
Cybercriminals and their scams have become more sophisticated in recent years, making it increasingly difficult to differentiate a fraudulent email from an authentic one. Scam emails tend to lead to web pages where personal details and passwords are pilfered or viruses are downloaded.
To avoid this type of cybercrime, all employees should be trained properly so that they can spot fraudulent emails and send them straight to the ‘junk’ folder. When employees are educated about the dangers of identity theft, spam emails will stick out like a sore thumb.
Get Shredding
Your business is also at risk for identity theft physically, as well as digitally. When documents and files aren’t properly destroyed, criminals can get their hands on such data and make use of it to steal the identity of individuals or their financial information. By introducing a comprehensive shredding policy, you can ensure that no one pilfers the sensitive information of both employees and customers alike.
If you don’t have the time or resources, you can take advantage of document management companies that offer shredding services at reasonable prices. You will have peace of mind knowing that your documents will be confidentially destroyed by professionals, ergo you don’t have to stress about destroying information in line with confusing data protection regulations.
With these 4 practices, you can protect your business from the rising number of security and phishing attacks. Don’t be a victim of identity fraud; stay vigilant.
short url:
