Soapbox: Don’t let your business fall prey to scams

Identity theft is a serious issue, no matter who the victim is, but the situation can be more complicated when somebody tries to impersonate someone’s business.

Since businesses need to make themselves visible to prospective customers, they are compelled to share a lot of information with the public that individuals tend to keep private, such as their phone number and address. Easy access to private contact information means heightened vulnerability to identity theft.

According to security firm Panda Security, a significant percentage of small businesses haven’t taken very basic steps to secure their data assets. A recent survey showed that “97 percent of U.S. small businesses have installed anti-virus and 95 percent claim their security systems are up to date. Yet, 29 percent said they have no anti-spam in place, 22 percent are without anti-spyware technology and 16 percent do not have firewalls.”

In addition, 52 percent said they have no Web filtering solution in place. And 39 percent of respondents said that they have yet to be trained about IT threats.

All an identity thief has to do is open up a mailbox in your shared office building, create a fake letterhead and obtain your business license number, which many businesses are required by law to display. Then the thief is well on his or her way to opening up credit card accounts in your name, filing purchase orders and running up bills that will eventually come to you.

So, what can business professionals do to prevent identity theft? Consider these tips: Soapbox: Don’t let your business fall prey to scams: