No matter what type of industry you are in, you cannot expect to run a business and have everything always go as smoothly as you planned. There will be times when your company will face unexpected challenges that disrupt processes and revenue flow.
Apart from that, there is also the looming threat of unethical cybercriminals stealing your information, leading to major issues such as identity theft.
In recent years, the number of cybercriminal cases has continued to rise as businesses shift their operations to digital platforms. Criminals gain access to information through vulnerabilities in the system, which allow them to steal sensitive information, take over accounts, and make unauthorized transactions.
It is vital to remain vigilant at all times and integrate identity management solutions to help prevent such events from happening.
How Identity Theft Hurts a Business
Identity theft can cause multiple problems for your organization if the situation is not addressed and dealt with immediately. When this happens, your company’s reputation is at stake, as your partners and customers can lose faith in your ability to protect their information. At the same time, the data leak can lead to you being charged hefty fines under multiple privacy laws.
When you lose customers due to identity theft, your revenue will also take a major hit. If you do not have the means to protect the business from situations like this, your operations can be brought to an indefinite halt, depending on the severity of the damage. This makes it crucial to know what you can do to lower the risks of these situations from happening.
6 Ways a Business Can Protect Their Customers from Identity Theft
There are different methods you can use to help check and protect your business and its customers against identity theft. Here are a few ways to prevent it and lower the number of vulnerabilities in your system.
1: Use frictionless onboarding
When it comes to onboarding customers, you need to ensure that the process is frictionless. This can be done by identity proofing and ensuring that the onboarding steps are seamless and, most importantly, secure.
2: Keep track of all devices that store sensitive information
Regularly monitoring who accesses your systems and from what type of device will allow you to identify any suspicious activity. Through this, you can determine who is accessing your data and what they are doing during their sessions.
Having a bring your own device (BYOD) policy in place allows employees to use their personal devices such as their smartphones for work. However, this should include security measures to protect the organization against cyber threats such as identity theft, so it is imperative that well-defined policies are understood by everyone in the company.
3: Integrate a robust identity proofing multi-factor authentication (MFA) system
Using a simple email and password system is often not enough for most businesses to secure their data and prevent identity theft. By using multi-factor authentication methods such as one-time passwords (OTP) and biometrics, anyone who needs to access your database or services can be verified each time.
This prevents unauthorized access, which would eventually save the business from data breaches, massive financial losses, and, most importantly, irreparable damage of goodwill with its customers.
4: Limit the number of access points for certain accounts
Rather than giving everyone in your team access, limit these access points to team leads, managers, and other authorized personnel only. Apart from that, you can also limit the number of people who can access your system simultaneously to improve how you monitor their activity to better protect against insider threats and ensure security. Bearing all these in mind, staff training is also crucial to help them be more aware of other cyberattacks such as phishing and social engineering.
5: Don’t collect data you don’t need
Be careful of the data you collect and save on your system. Some cybercriminals send harmful links and files that allow them to penetrate your security and gain access to your database. Sometimes, they will pretend to be customers or reputable sources to get you to lower your guard.
6: Encrypt data
Data encryption helps protect your most private and sensitive information while ensuring that your communication platforms remain secure. This allows your organization to engage with clients and customers freely without the need to worry about possible threats or unauthorized people accessing your database.
Adapt and Overcome Identity Theft
Running a business in the financial sector will always have its fair share of challenges despite the multiple preventive measures. As technology continues to evolve, so do the methods that cybercriminals use to infiltrate your system and steal your valuable data. It is crucial to be aware of these possibilities and to address threats adequately and learn how to avoid them.
Relying on effective identity management solutions can be one of the best ways to stay a step ahead of identity theft and other cyber threats against your business. Reach out to Q5id today and learn more about their identity proofing services.
Cost of Account Takeover - Industry Report
Identity theft resulting from account takeovers can have a devastating impact on your customer retention and satisfaction. In this exclusive report surveying industry leaders, learn what’s expected in 2022 and the costs other organizations are experiencing with account takeovers.
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