Identity Theft: 10 Ways to Protect Yourself

In 16.5 months there were 14 million victims of identity theft in the USA, costing 3.8 billion dollars. (Privacy and American Business, Vol.10, #5).

Identity theft is a growing problem and one that you should shield yourself from as much as possible. But how do you go about it? Here are ten things you can do to help ensure your identity and customer information remains safe and your identity stays with the person it was intended for. YOU!

What can you do to ensure your business stays safe from prying eyes?

1) Secure your business. You might not think that the computers you have or the desks or chairs would be the target of thieves, but to identity thieves all they need is access to your computer once to pull valueable information from it.

There have been some studies showing that thieves can peer through windows with a telescope to steal your passwords. They set up video cameras outside ATM machines and outside business windows.

Secure your business in the usual ways with alarm systems and if possible turn off your computers and unplug them during the weekends or when you go home for the day during the week.

2) Printed business documents need to be files in a safe or under strong lock and metal cabinet. How much is your personal information and that of your business worth to you? Isn’t it worth buying a safe to put it in and anchor the safe to the concrete of your floor with large welded bolts? Put copies of computer data backup discs or tapes in the safe religiously.

3) Destroy everything! Invest in a commercial paper shredder and use it daily. Leave it in the accountant’s office and come up with clear policies regarding destruction of documents with identifying information of your business and clients. Don’t forget to do this at home as well. I remember waking up at 3 a.m. one time in my Florida home and looking out the window at a guy looking through 3 of my trash bags – he was reading information from papers there! The police moved him on – but, apparently this is what he does..every night he goes in search of treasure. Not gold or diamonds, but data he can use or he can sell to others. Outrageous, but it happens more often than you’d guess.

4) The Phone is the usual doorway into your business secrets. While it’s pretty difficult and risky for data thieves to break into your business location and physically steal data the phone makes it much easier and much less risky. You are far more likely to have data stolen from your business as a result of poor telephone policies than someone breaking in at night.

Set clear and well-defined policies for releasing any information over the phone. Ensure your entire company is aware of the policies – yes, even your shipping department.

Thieves will pose as goverment officials & agencies, credit sources, health insurance companies or anything they can think of. Repeated attempts are sometimes necessary. At weekly meetings ask your staff whether anyone has been receiving odd phone calls that might be correlated.

5) Set up a computer network with user accounts and authorization needed (passwords) on sensitive material. Set up a tightly controlled computer network for your business and require user login so you can track who does what. Windows 7 is supposed to offer a good networking component to the operating system – try it or go with the old standby, Windows NT.

Limit access to information on a need to know basis.

6) Firewall all computers. Staying up to date with all recent releases of updated software for your computer network is essential. Holes are patched on a continual basis these days and you don’t want to be slack in this area. Run firewalls on all computers to limit channels for data being sent over the internet. One of the best ways to firewall your computer system is to use a router to channel all outbound and inbound communication over the internet. They often come with firewall programs that make it easy.

In addition to firewalls you need antivirus protection and spyware/malware protection. Norton offers an excellent and comprehensive internet security software package that is well worth the investment.

7) Internet policies. Internet policies – what your staff can and can’t do online nad what sites they can visit is an essentaial part of protecting your business information.

Website security should be tightly controlled and your site should be set up by professionals on the server side (backend). Don’t leave any obvious holes hackers can get through and do damage through.

Public cautions. You’ve probably all been to a store and saw someone’s personal information come up on a screen. It happens everyday. Have policies in place that limit what visitors to the business can see by accident or on purpose. Employees should have training where they are taught to be very cautious with dealing with all business related information.

9) Create a manual of security policies. Over time you’ll learn a lot about what kinds of best-practices you’ll want to maintain for your business. Assign someone the task of creating a security manual that outlines specifically what is to be done in matters of sharing information, internet use, and all matters relating to security of your business and customer information.

10) Termination of employees. When the time comes to let go of an employee ensure you change all passwords and accounts he/she had access to and ensure that all the companies you deal closely with are aware that this person has been let go. Jaded ex-employees are a problem waiting to happen! Take care to cut access from them before they can get anything of value.

Security policies cost money. To implement all of these, training every employee so they do the right thing will take money, time and effort. Is it worth it? You decide…!