IN-FIRM Planning To Optimize Today’s Technology

From the Oct. 2008 Issue

Over ten million Americans have been a victim of identity theft according to the TrustedID.com website. Virtually every week, there is another newspaper story about hackers breaking into systems and capturing personal information that could be utilized by criminals to steal the identities of your personnel, members of their families, and your clients. And those are just the breaches that are discovered and reported to the media! With the increased utilization of digital personal records, digital payments and online banking systems, the opportunity for hackers to get access to large volumes of information will only increase the risk of identity theft. Surveys indicate that the average victim of identity theft will spend $8,000 resolving the issue and will take an estimated 600 hours of personal time to do so. If one of your personnel or a member of their family becomes a victim of identity theft, imagine the impact on their productivity and the corresponding impact on the firm during that time. For this reason, we feel it is imperative that firms take a proactive approach to managing the risk of identity theft, which can be done with education of personnel, providing resources to deter and respond to identity fraud, and having a prepared response in the event that one of your associates becomes a victim, to minimize the impact.

Education
The first step in managing identity theft is educating your personnel on how it occurs and what they can do to minimize the risk. In addition to online breaches, identity thieves steal purses and wallets, “skim” credit cards when you pay for services, and sift through garbage to find un-shredded credit card statements or other financial records that they can use to open other accounts or change the address so they can bypass delivery of statements. They also use this information to get identification such as driver’s licenses, so access codes and PINs should not be easy to guess, such as mother’s maiden name, the last four digits of your social security number and birthdates.

If an identity thief commits a crime, the unknowing victim must prove they were not responsible, which can have very far reaching impacts. Employees should be educated about warning signs such as not receiving bills when expected and consider using a notification service. It is also important to review the annual benefits statement from the Social Security Administration to verify that the salary amounts are correct and that no one else is using your SSN for payroll.

Identity Theft Resources
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the watchdog for consumers in the United States, and they have developed resources specifically to assist identity theft victims at www.ftc.gov/idtheft. They have also set up a telephone hotline where they can be contacted directly: 877-IDTHEFT. The FTC created a document entitled, “Take Charge: Fighting Back Against Identity Theft,” which can be downloaded from their website and stored on the firm’s network for easy access or forwarding. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has also developed materials for dealing with stolen wallets (Your Wallet: A Losers Manual) or abuse of checking accounts (A Crook Has Drained Your Account. Who Pays?) at www.FDIC.gov and through their hotline at 800-934-3342. Reviewing these documents can assist the firm in creating educational materials, as well as planning a response.