{"id":1981,"date":"2008-07-17T15:59:23","date_gmt":"2008-07-17T20:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/17\/understanding-preventing-corporate-identity-theft\/"},"modified":"2008-07-17T15:59:23","modified_gmt":"2008-07-17T20:59:23","slug":"understanding-preventing-corporate-identity-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/?p=1981","title":{"rendered":"Understanding & Preventing Corporate Identity Theft"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Paul Wilcox<\/div>\n

Since the beginning of the Information Age, personal identity theft has flourished. Fraudulent transactions concerning large amounts of money are reported by thousands of people because unauthorized people have accessed accounts illegally.<\/p>\n

This crime has now extended to corporate identity theft. Just as the name suggests, corporate identity theft is the misuse of a companys identity for personal use.<\/p>\n

Corporate identity theft comes in several forms: using a business name on an online merchant account, finding sensitive information in trash bins, hacking into a corporation’s website to steal or corrupt date, or designing a website with a similar domain name to steal traffic that would have gone to the legitimate company.<\/p>\n

Taking Preventive Measures<\/p>\n

All of these forms of corporate identity theft are preventable through various measures.<\/p>\n

Maintenance of the website is most critical; in the age of the Internet, most identity theft takes place online. Have IT staff monitor website access regularly, and include an email address on the home page for end users to report any unusual occurrences. For example, there have been cases in which a company website was hacked and pornographic material distributed through it. Obviously this was a major embarrassment for the companys professional image. In order to prevent traffic stealing, a good practice would be to regularly check for similar domain names, or register commonly misspelled variations to prevent others from doing so.<\/p>\n

Another cause of rising corporate identity theft is that of misplaced paper documents. Misplaced hard documents are another cause of rising corporate identity theft. Shred all paper documents to percent sensitive data from being stolen.<\/p>\n

Finally, be sure that computer networks are secure. Regularly updated virus protection software, strong firewalls, adware and spyware blockers and secure passwords are good ways of maintaining a secure network. Have a strict policy about Internet use; employees that surf the Internet during work hours not only are being unproductive, they also put the integrity of the company at risk when accessing sites that could potentially deliver spyware or adware.<\/p>\n

Consider these guidelines and you will ensure the greatest chance of avoiding corporate identity theft. Criminals are always scheming up ways to infiltrate your organization, no matter how secure you are. Remember that computer software and company policies are fallible. Keep your methods of protecting up to date and be vigilant about protecting sensitive material.<\/p>\n

\n
About the Author:<\/div>\n
Is your PC secure enough? Find out what you should be doing to keep it safe from spyware, viruses and other online security<\/a> threats at the Online Security Toolkit website. Visit http:\/\/www.onlinesecuritytoolkit.com for more tips & info.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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