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Personal identity theft has been prevalent since the start of the Information Age ??” every year thousands of people report credit cards or bank accounts being accessed by unauthorized people, making fraudulent transactions that cost large sums of money.

This crime has now extended to corporate identity theft. Just as the name suggests, corporate identity theft is the misuse of a company’s identity for personal use.

Corporate identity theft can happen in many ways: using a business name to open an online merchant account, damaging the information on a company’s website by hacking into it, finding private information like bank statements and employee names in the garbage, or preventing people from arriving at a certain business by making a website with a domain name that appears to be the company’s.

Taking Preventive Measures

Corporate identity theft can be stopped by using certain preventative techniques.

Since the majority of identity theft happens on the internet, the company’s website must be well taken care of. On the home page, place an email address where anyone who notices something suspicious can report what they’ve seen. IT employees need to keep watch over access to the website. The importance of this is made clearer by considering that company websites have been used by hackers to give out pornographic material. Without a doubt, the business establishment that was victimized was quite embarrassed by such a stain on their image. To stop others from pulling traffic off of a corporate website, check continually for other domain names that look like your company’s or common misspellings of the company name that identity thieves could take advantage of.

Making good use of paper shredders is very important in the business world. If a sensitive document is lost or misplaced, corporate identity theft could occur more easily. Shredding documents will keep thieves from finding information they could use against a company.

Lastly, do all that is possible to protect computer networks. This means using good firewalls, secure passwords, adware and spyware blockers, and a virus protection program that is kept updated to keep the network safe. Since surfing the Internet is not a productive activity, do not allow it. Besides reducing their productivity, employees who surf while working might unintentionally cause problems by introducing spyware or adware into their company’s network.

Following these guidelines will ensure the greatest chance possible of avoiding corporate identity theft. No matter how secure an organization may be, there is always an ingenious criminal who can think of a way to infiltrate. Never take for granted the infallibility of existing computer software or company policy. Always keep up-to-date with methods of protection, because potential identity thieves are certainly innovating constantly.

Tags: Online Security

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