Social Media and Identity Theft - Where is Your Business Going Wrong?

Social media networking sites are a place where users come together and share common interests. These social websites require a minimum amount of personal information to join. Identity thieves gain access to personal identity information and use it for their benefits. It is so hard to catch identity thieves and fraudsters who take advantage of business proprietor that do not have protection precautions for their business. Identity theft is becoming a serious problem in the world and is becoming harder & harder to protect personal data. New ways to steal identity are coming about every day with advanced technology like internet, smartphone, laptop and computer. . It is highly recommended to use identity theft protection services like Identity Guard to remain safe from fraudsters

In 2012 a scam involving Facebook created as an attempt to use steal financial information from social media users.  Hackers impersonating Facebook security to hijacked user’s account and used these accounts to send fake messages to other users. The Identity Theft Resource Center surveyed –more than 10 million Americans per year fall prey to identity theft while about 45% of online consumers fear about identity theft. Results show that even though numbers of days that identity thieves misuse the stolen identity increases in comparison of previous years.

Identity theft may steal or misuse the following profile elements:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• School Location
• Graduation Dates
• Relationship Status
• Home Town
• Interests & Hobbies

Social media has both positive and negative effect on business – positive: it gives the ability to increase business, brand image, sales and consumer connections through websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Negative - it includes many risks on business:

• To use intellectual property without permission
• To steal trade secrets or confidential information
• To steal information of employees and customers
• To make false claims
• To commit trademark infringement or copyright
• Giving password or other account details to people you know
• Download free applications
• Accept invitations from unfamiliar person
• Having low privacy or no privacy settings
• Email scams or phishing ask you to update social networking profiles
• Participate in quizzes
• Using out dated antivirus or anti-malware
• Clicking on links that redirect to others websites

 Risk Management Factors to Protect Business from Social Media Risks:

1.  Develop Crisis Management Plan

 Create a crisis plan that should state what is accepted or not accepted in social media. It should have details of employee and employer protocol in data breach, consumer’s complaints, injured employees details and social media issues.

2.  Develop Social Media Policy

Creating a social media policy will effectively reduce the potential of misuse. Many companies cover social media use in confidentiality agreement or an employee handbook on how to customize a best practices policy for a particular business. These social media policy may include:

• Guidelines about disclosures
• Limit access to social media websites
• Filtering content
• Procedure of updating antivirus or anti-malware daily
• Wireless policy about mobile devices
• Training for employees to inform latest risks of social media
• Revised policy about new technology or social media

3.  Educate and Give Training to Employee

It is a best way to protect employees, to give them training and information regarding safety and management of customer’s information. Review the privacy policies and settings on accounts to make sure the information is shared with known person. Be sure to have information policy of record management consistent for all communication and correspondence with social media.

4. Recognition of Social Media Risks

Many common risks of social media can also amplify and accelerate risks and damage is inflicted on company’s brand both in terms of scope and speed. Most of the social media sites ask personal information and business information from users and they have experienced data-breach events. Identity thieves are using social media to create more opportunities to steal identities and commit fraud nowadays. It is important to businesses to identify social media risks of theft and data breach and plan according to essential solutions.

How to Protect Businesses from Identity Theft via Social Media Channels:

• Use high level of security settings that websites allows
• Read privacy and security policies carefully
• Verify emails and links in emails
• Scan attachments of emails before downloading them
• Install updated antivirus or anti-malware
• Install a firewall
• Always use HTTPS based websites
• Beware of hidden file extensions
• Use commonsense while using internet
• Be certain of both source and content of each file
• Educate employees about scams via emails, phone calls and internet
• Turn off Wi-Fi connection when not in use
• Do not browse adult websites
• Do not enable auto log in
• Do not enable auto saver password in browser
• Use strong and unique passwords for websites
• Change passwords frequently
• Close old accounts that are not in use
• Keep communications network secure