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Identity theft is an intensely personal crime that affects individuals by taking their personal information and using it for financial gain. But it’s not just individuals who are affected: businesses also face a serious and increasing risk.
Successfully targeting a business for identity theft is often no more difficult than stealing an individual’s identity, but the rewards that come with a successful identity theft can be much greater. Criminals often target businesses for several key reasons:
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- Businesses have more money in their bank accounts.
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- When opening a new account, businesses often receive a higher credit limit.
- Large orders don’t raise as many suspicions: if a single consumer orders 50 computers, it might raise red flags, but if a business makes the same purchase, it is considered normal.
Small and medium-sized businesses are popular targets because their security often hasn’t grown at the same pace as their income.
How are businesses exposed?
First and foremost, businesses are at risk of having their identity stolen. When this happens, a criminal assumes the identity of the company and uses it to establish credit using the company’s credentials and reputation.
Then, they can start spending using those credentials, accumulating as much debt as possible as quickly as they can. By purchasing electronics and other easily sellable items, they can make quick profits and then disappear. The business is left responsible for the debt and the damage to its credit score.
A second, no less serious risk is that businesses are targeted by hackers who want to obtain their customers’ data. This information is valuable, and if it is leaked or maliciously stolen, it can be used to steal the identities of the company’s customers.
While the customers would be responsible for this attack, any company involved in losing customer information can damage its reputation and potentially be involved in litigation or face fines in the future.
What can businesses do to protect themselves and their customers?
The main action businesses must take is to protect their data. Identity theft relies on stealing information that allows thieves to impersonate businesses or individuals.
If these thieves cannot easily access this data, it’s almost impossible to steal an identity, as they cannot overcome the most basic security questions that a bank or another company would ask them when applying for credit or trying to set up an account.
Physical document protection
While most modern security threats are digital, businesses should not neglect their physical security. Visitors can steal physical documents from their office or even retrieve them from their trash containers.
Businesses should develop and implement strategies to prevent this theft, prioritizing ensuring that employees understand the risks and do not leave unprotected business data unattended.
Another vital step is shredding documents containing business data once they are no longer needed. The safest way to do this is by using a professional shredding service, but any shredding is better than simply throwing the documents in the trash, where anyone could find them.
Digital document protection
Traditionally, identity theft involved stealing physical documents. Nowadays, an identity thief doesn’t need to be near a business to steal its identity, or that of its customers, as they can remotely access the information they need digitally.
Without proper protection, your digital data is at high risk. Here are some scenarios that could lead to identity theft:
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- Lost device: An employee leaves a laptop or smartphone in the car or at a restaurant. Without effective security, a thief can access sensitive information, not only stored on the device but also on your server or other cloud services used
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- Physical access: if a criminal can gain access to your premises, whether during working hours or after hours, they can easily access critical information through logged-in workstations. This could also be an insider attack: an attack perpetrated by someone already working for your business.
- Password hacking: most employee passwords are weaker than they think. If someone uses weak passwords or reuses personal passwords for business use, their accounts can be compromised.
To protect against these threats, businesses need a comprehensive solution that defends all their devices, servers, and accounts.
Minimizing access
When a company is small, it’s common for all employees to have the same level of access to files on the network. However, as you grow, the risk of an insider attack increases.
To reduce this risk, employees should have restricted access only to information that is relevant and appropriate to their role. For example, only the finance department needs significant access to financial records; almost anyone else with access would unnecessarily increase the risk for your organization.
By compartmentalizing your data, you also reduce your risk in case of an attack. Even if John from marketing uses a weak password and gets hacked, the hacker still won’t have access to the financial information they need to steal the company’s identity.
Stay vigilant
One of the best and easiest lines of defense is your team’s eyes and ears. By checking their bank accounts and other financial accounts daily, they should know exactly what’s going in and out of their account and if it’s correct.
Another clear sign of identity theft is if suppliers mention orders that you don’t recognize placing. If your team understands that it’s their responsibility to verify if something doesn’t add up, they can detect most issues ahead of time. The sooner you report a potential problem, the less damage it can cause, and the more likely the perpetrator will be caught.
