Keep Identity Theft Thieves on the Run

Starting and running a business comes with many challenges, one of which is making sure your data and that of your customers is protected at all times.

With that being said, just how secure is the data that you and your company rely on to stay in business on a daily basis?

If your data (and that of your customer base) is compromised, not only can it be a financial headache, but you also stand to lose in the court of public relations. If some customers begin to question your company’s online security, it may not take long for your revenue stream to be impacted.

So, how good of a job do you do protecting your company data and why is social media an important part of the equation? At the same time, what are you doing in your personal life to keep identity theft thieves at bay?

Improper Socializing Can Be Disastrous

For starters, using social media in the wrong manner (both professionally and personally) can be an open invitation to those looking to steal your identity or that of your customers.

Making matters worse, the thief or thieves are oftentimes right under your nose, be they employees or even someone in your family or circle of friends. From improperly using your work or personal social media accounts to providing username and password information to others, you could be setting yourself and/or your business up for trouble.

In order to lessen the chances of identity theft striking your business and/or personal world, keep these tidbits in mind:

1. What you say matters – What might seem like an innocent share or tweet on social media can turn into a big problem, especially if company or personal information has been compromised. As an example, if you’re running a business and you tweet out that your company recently avoided a number of data breaches, you basically have sent out an open invitation to countless identity theft thieves. Why is your company the target of so many identity theft attempts? Just because your online security thwarted several attempts, there must be a reason that you’ve been the subject of numerous hacking plots. Never discuss your company’s online security methods or your personal ones for that matter (see more below) on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn etc. unless you are looking for trouble;
2. Secure your finances – From your credit cards to personal banking information, avoid sharing such details with anyone online. Identity theft thieves especially like to go after unsecure personal and e-Commerce merchant financial information because of the rewards securing such data can bring them. Once they have the financial data, they can cause havoc and ultimately a loss in personal trust between the merchant and the consumer. The best way to secure your financial information is by never letting it fall into the wrong hands. For example, avoid at all costs posting financial data (business or personal) on your social media outlets. If you take a picture of something that has your data on it and post it, how long do you think it will take an identity theft thief to use it to his or her advantage? Just about everyone has seen people on social sites posting photos of envelopes addressed to them with where they reside, a financial paper or credit card statement that has their birthday and/or last four digits of their SSN, who they do their banking with, and so on. Never put such personal details out there on any of your social posts, knowing that even a slither of information is all a thief needs to target you or your business;
3. Ill-timed announcements – Another gaffe you need to avoid making is alerting the world on social media that you are away from your home or business for a period of time. If you travel for business, avoid blurting out to the world that you are away for an extended period of time, where you will be staying while gone etc. Such announcements can make your home susceptible to a break-in, especially if an identity theft thief has been tracking your social footprints online. Wait until you return home from such a trip to post photos of where you were too. The best way to handle this from a social perspective is limiting who has access to your account/s. If you’re on Facebook, you can choose who friends you and who doesn’t. A simple lock-down of your Twitter account will do likewise.

There is absolutely no reason you should not be on social media from a business and/or personal standpoint. At the end of the day, social media has a number of engagement benefits that are too good to pass up.

That said it all comes down to commonsense and not opening the door for identity theft thieves to come in.

Simply speaking, keep them on the run so that they never catch you.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1QnoKPH via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/212bPrr