As mentioned in an earlier post, Corporate Identity Theft is a growing and serious problem.
Here in the UK the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), estimates that the financial cost of corporate identity theft may be in the region of £30,000 per case.
Such costs are based purely on the impact of direct theft and potential bank charges and fines.
Naturally, the real cost to a corporation is far higher – there will be many issues with regard to their branding, company status, issues of trust with the public, etc, etc.
The following 7 tips may help reduce the risk of a corporation having to endure the above by minimising their exposure to corporate identity theft in the first place -
1. Thoroughly screen and vet new employees – corporate identity theft often relies upon inside help
2. Ensure the details about your company are accurately recorded at Companies House
3. Sign up for PROOF (Protected online filing) with Companies House – this allows for electronic filing of key information
4. Also sign up for the monitoring service provided by Companies House – this generates an email alert to a designated person should there be any attempt to change the registered details
5. Basic security – shredding of bank and credit card statements, company headed letters, etc is a must
6. Ensure company computer systems are secure, especially internally where employees may be prone to writing down passwords or choosing ones that are guessed too easily
7. Buy up all domain names that could be made to look like the one you use, i.e. common misspellings, .co.uk, .net, .org, etc.
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