What are some things that keep you awake at night as a business owner?
Running a business can be a great financial experience over the years for the man or woman who is savvy at making a company tick, but there can also be many headaches that go along for the ride.
Hiring the right employees, making sure your funds stay in the black and don’t dip into the red, keeping within budget when it comes to your marketing and advertising needs, finding the best health insurance plan for you and your staff and so much more to think of.
In order to make sure your business stays afloat financially, it isn’t just sound financial decisions tied to employee hires, supply purchases, getting the best for your marketing and advertising dollars etc. that prove critical. Avoiding becoming the next identity theft victim is also something you must focus on, especially in today’s world of ever-changing technology.
See the Signs of Identity Theft
According to one report, 12.7 million consumers fell victim to identity theft nationwide.
While that was about a 3 percent drop from the previous year, it still amounts to a ton of people and businesses being ripped off.
So, how can your business avoid the identity theft trap and stay one step ahead of the criminals?
To start with, make sure you have resources in place to better thwart identity theft thieves.
Check itpbureau reviews and compile your identity theft protections in place.
It is important that you locate the best identity theft protection provider out there, thereby giving your business as much protection as possible from identity theft thieves.
Your provider should be very experienced in helping businesses and consumers prevent identity theft, offer affordable and reliable products, and provide exceptional customer service. All these ingredients will ultimately help you lower your overall business costs.
Once you have such a provider in place, make sure you and your employees are cognizant of any and all transactions your company makes.
This means:
- Avoid leaving information exposed – First and foremost, never leave company (or consumer for that matter) financial data, personal details etc. exposed for others to see. If you or an employee or working on account information, transactions etc. on a computer, don’t up and walk away from the screen for minutes at a time, leaving the information for anyone to see;
- Avoid having unprotected websites – Identity theft thieves are always looking at how to stay one step ahead of the technology curve and law enforcement for that matter. With that in mind, make sure your business deploys the best firewalls to lessen the odds of an identity theft thief cracking your site. It is also important that you encrypt such sensitive information in order to decrease the chances of someone getting their hands on it and translating it for their gains;
- Avoid hiring bad apples – One of the toughest tasks in running a small business is making sure you hire the best and brightest employees. Anyone who has had past brushes with the law in terms of financial transgressions should signal a red flag. If you are outsourcing any of your business needs (accounting, client inquiries etc.), make sure you can trust the people who will be handling sensitive information such as credit card numbers, PINS, Social Security accounts etc. Also make sure that any work the individual or individuals does for your business is on a computer or computers that have proper firewalls in place to thwart identity theft thieves;
- Avoid becoming complacent – Finally, the last thing you want you and your business to do is become complacent. Just because you have not been an identity theft victim up to now doesn’t mean it can’t happen today, tomorrow or the next day. Those who steal from others, especially when it comes to identity theft, are always looking for how to beat the system. Be cognizant of all the business and customer data you have one file, make sure only those who truly need to see it do, and make it very clear to anyone working for you that any and all illegal acts related to such data will be taken very seriously, including possible job dismissal and criminal charges.
