July 16, 2008
These NewsBriefs are produced and delivered weekly by
Attainium to keep our friends and clients
current on topics relating to Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Crisis Management.
More than 8 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2005, and the data breaches
cost businesses and consumers untold billions. A 2007 survey estimates that it now costs
businesses about $197 for every data record that is lost - mostly on repairing damaged reputations.
Read the articles below to see how your organization can prevent identity theft and phishing losses.
When any person with a relationship to a business becomes a victim of identity theft,
the business is potentially at risk.
(Item #1)
Is your network an open target for identity theft?
(Item #2)
Because most jurisdictions don't consider business ID theft a crime, often the best solution
for business victims can be to do the legwork of an investigation themselves.
(Item #3)
How do you protect the information you collect about customers, members, employees and others?
(Item #4)
Phishing isn't just targeting banks anymore… any business is at risk.
(Item #5)
You need to understand web spoofing so you can protect yourself against it.
(Item #6)
As always, we look forward to hearing about your concerns
with regards to business continuity. If you have a topic
you'd like to see covered, please email me at
bmellinger@attainium.net
Best Regards,
Bob Mellinger
President
Attainium Corp
Quote of the Week
"A large portion of identity theft and fraud do come from Dumpster diving [and]
taking mail from mailboxes."
- Steve Larsen -
Articles
1. Identity theft: The business time bomb
More than half of the 10 million new ID thefts each year originate from a place of business, employer,
or other entity (not-for-profit or local, state, or federal government).
http://wistechnology.com/articles/3332/
2. 10 Ways to Prevent Identity Theft
First, to prevent identity theft, we need to follow basic security practices to physically protect
our customers' personal information and other business data. Second, we need to ensure that
our information systems, such as computer networks, aren't open targets for identity theft.
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/insurancelegalissues/a/identitytheft.htm
3. Identity Theft: The 'Business Bust-Out'
The "bust-out" is just one of the schemes fraudsters use to steal your business identity,
a crime that has gone largely unnoticed in a legal system focused on consumer ID theft. What's worse,
most ID theft laws don't consider business identity theft a crime.
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb20070723_261131.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_top+stories
4. Information Compromise and the Risk of Identity Theft: Guidance for Your Business
If the information you hold about customers, employees, students or patients falls into the wrong hands,
it could put these individuals at risk for identity theft. This FTC fact sheet provides guidelines
you can put into practice to keep data safe.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/idtheft/bus59.pdf
5. Protect Your Business from Phishing
The latest news about "phishing" is not good for small and mid-size businesses. Phishers - people who
send fraudulent emails and try to lure unsuspecting recipients into revealing confidential information
on a phony website -- are no longer impersonating only big commercial banks. They've started using the names
of smaller companies, too.
http://technology.inc.com/security/articles/200703/phishing.html
6. Online Identity Theft and Business
In today's electronic environment, one of the easiest ways for an identity thief to operate is
to masquerade as a business by stealing its online identity. This is done through a technique known
as web spoofing. With web spoofing, a company's website is reproduced under a similar domain name
that is controlled by the identity thief.
http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2004/404/essentials/p50.htm
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