Business identity theft threat increasing

Identity theft continues to ravage the general population, and has become a bigger threat to businesses in recent years. Criminals have adapted to new security protocols, but many have not had to because enterprises are still making the same mistakes that lead to identity theft in the past, such as not disposing of sensitive documents in a secure fashion.

There are a variety of new and old methods that businesses can use to better defend against identity theft, including software and proven policies. This crime can be devastating, whether it affects customers, employees or the business itself, but is completely avoidable with the right amount of preparation, assessments and education.

Business identity theft safeguards
Legal-yogi recently released a statement regarding the levity of business identity theft and explained several ways in which executives and managers can deter the crime from their companies. According to the website, employee IDs and Social Security numbers (SSN) are among the most commonly used information to steal an individual's or business' identity.

The source asserted that business identity theft is becoming more serious, accounting for upwards of $50 billion a year in lost money. Companies that invest in credit monitoring systems and ID verification services are often safer and protected from devastating losses resulting from business identity theft.

Being proactive in the fight against business identity theft is crucial, as the news provider explained that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received about 30,000 complaints regarding the crime last year, and has only been able to investigate roughly 2 percent of them in a timely fashion. Legal-yogi stated that businesses should always be very careful when processing credit card payments, especially with the data cultivated from such transactions.

Not many companies currently conduct ID verification for all plastic card purchases, despite the fact that this is one of the most common causes of identity theft around. Personal and business banking information should be treated as extremely sensitive data, and protected accordingly to ensure a cyber or physical attack does not result in monumental losses.

Benefits of hiring pros
ID verification is not the easiest process in business operations today and needs to be carried out in an accurate and efficient fashion. For this reason, businesses should consider employing the assistance of a firm that specializes in the associated responsibilities, as the returns on such investments could be very high considering the potential damages of identity theft.