Businesses of all sizes can be vulnerable to acts of fraud. There are so many different types of fraud that can befall businesses and our dependence on technology has opened new doors for cybercriminals to take advantage of. While perpetrators of fraud and cybercriminals are constantly evolving to infiltrate the latest in cybersecurity measures, there are still a lot of precautionary steps your business can take to protect itself from fraud, both virtual and otherwise.
Ways to Protect Your Business From Fraud
One of the best ways you can protect your business from fraud starts with hiring the right people. Your employees will handle a significant amount of sensitive information. You need to do what you can to make sure they are trustworthy and reliable. This means doing backgrounds on employees prior to hire. While references and work history are good places to begin the vetting process, a thorough background check is best practice for making sure you are hiring the right people. When you go to expand your workforce and bring on new hires, you should be looking for people who are qualified, yes, but, you also need to make sure they are trustworthy.
You should also take steps to safeguard your bank accounts, both personal and business. Separating out these accounts can be a great way to guard against fraud. Keep your business accounts, both bank and credit, separate from your personal accounts. This means that should cybercriminals infiltrate one account; they will not automatically gain access to your other accounts as well.
Furthermore, you should be sure you are taking advantage of all of the security measures your bank offers. Does your bank offer online banking? Check to see if automatic logout is available. Can you opt to go paperless? Manage all of your bills online to minimize paperwork falling into the wrong hands.
A top priority to protect your business against fraud is, of course, to protect your computer systems. Hackers have made careers into cracking computer systems. Fortunately, a strong firewall and antivirus software can be a big step towards safeguarding your business dealings. Check into reputable cybersecurity providers. Keep your particular security needs in mind and find the security products that best meet those needs.
You should also consider putting protocols in place for your employees to become an active part in effective cybersecurity measures. For instance, even having employees change their passwords every 60 days can be effective at guarding against fraud. Make sure employees are using strong passwords by having password requirements such as length, including special characters, and numbers.
You can also protect your brick and mortar offices from unwanted visitors who may be looking to take advantage of your business dealings. Put a keycard system in place and this will also give you time-stamped records of everyone that comes and goes through the office. You can also limit access to certain office areas so that only certain employees are allowed to enter. In particular, you might want to consider this for your computer server room. There really is no need for anyone to go in there except for IT managers.
Business Law Attorneys
Need assistance keeping your business safe? Consult with the team at Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace about the steps you can be taking to make this happen. Contact us today.