You don’t want to take your online security for granted, especially when you have a business that’s accessible via the internet. While many of us are used to assessing risks about what threats can become problems for our businesses, it can be easy to overlook the growing threat of online fraud. It’s best to be very proactive, so here are six ways you’ll be able to ensure your security and keep operations rolling smoothly.
IMPLEMENT STRONG COMPANY PASSWORD POLICIES
To enhance and further improve fraud protection, installing a CAPTCHA on the payment page will deter nefarious actors from using a bot.
Setting a strong password that isn’t based on anything personal to you is one part of the equation for protecting your business from online fraud. Furthermore, having a password policy for your entire organization can go a long way toward granting your company a quality level of security.
Remember, people use passwords for bank access, social media, internet communication platforms and a multitude of applications that can contain important material. Having two-factor authentication is thus a highly recommended form of protection, one that will force would-be hackers to have multiple pieces of information to access your system.
Strong passwords are alphanumeric, utilize symbols and are of a decent length. The amount of damage that hackers can cause to your system can be unimaginable if access is too easy.
A good example of password protection is a strategy that bank websites often use. If they see that a user is trying to access their bank account from an unknown computer, they’ll send a text or email with a code that must be entered, in addition to the usual password. This upgraded system allows for even more security from potentially fraudulent activity.
HIRE A CYBERSECURITY EXPERT TO AUDIT VULNERABILITIES
It’s well worth hiring cybersecurity experts to audit your online security. With the increasing rise in online fraud, and the points of access that are granted to any business once it’s also online, you’ll want to know where your weak spots are. Consulting with an expert will assist in keeping out a variety of threats like malware, which can hold important files hostage for ransomed restorations.
Once you start down the road of paying ransoms to hackers that are stealing your files, you’ll be seen as a wellspring of revenue for other hackers. It’s best to nip this kind of behavior in the bud before it ever happens.
Whatever your security audit ends up revealing, it is of the utmost importance that you follow the advice of your cybersecurity specialist. This might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but know that you’re creating levels of protection that will ensure lasting security for your company for years to come.
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO ONLINE REQUESTS
You always want to scrutinize all online requests, especially if the company or person making them is declaring them urgent. Evaluating online requests for their legitimacy is going to be extremely important to make sure you aren’t dealing with someone looking to commit fraud.
One of the biggest ploys of cybercriminals is to make their victims feel like there will be terrible consequences if they don’t jump to complete whatever request they’re making. Fear is their greatest weapon, so it’s good to take time with each request made, regardless of its declared urgency.
If any of the requests being made will disrupt or slow down your company’s operations, then talking to a lawyer and/or cybersecurity experts before making any brash decisions could save you a lot of hassle in the long run.
ONLINE FRAUD OFTEN COMES IN SMALL PACKAGES
One of the most surprising things about fraud, once you start to hunt down such transactions, is that they often come in much smaller increments. Cybercriminals know that it’s much easier to pass little transactions through a system, because they’ll be less likely to raise red flags, and they may repeat the process over time so that it’s less conspicuous. Small businesses, unfortunately, tend to have the most problems with this, because up to 4 in 10 of them have issues with their cash flow. Once small fraudulent transactions have passed through repeatedly, it can add up to a much greater problem.
Whoever handles your accounts needs to check the records daily, and no matter how small the transaction seems, they need to report it if it seems suspicious. To go along with managing accounts, all employee job-related expenses need to be recorded diligently and reported for approval. Yes, you should be able to trust your employees, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep track of their spending. There is software designed to report accounting anomalies, and that could be an invaluable addition to your system for protecting your money.
Perhaps most important is something that is all too often overlooked: protecting your payment page. With the shift to ecommerce sales in 2020 to adapt and accommodate the pandemic, there has been a corollary increase in ecommerce fraud. The simplest tool any business owner or website operator can employ is enabling the fraud controls for your gateway. To enhance and further improve fraud protection, installing a CAPTCHA on the payment page will deter nefarious actors from using a bot to try thousands of credit card numbers in succession over the span of just a few hours.
TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES ON DEALING WITH FRAUD
If your staff knows what to look for, then they are way more likely to spot something that looks amiss. You’ll want your whole team onboard for fighting online fraud, and that means you need to have a training program in place to assist them. All the heads of your company should be trained alongside the rest of your staff, which will build even more camaraderie in the fight against fraudulent online activity.
Building incentives into your team’s battle against online fraud may also be a good approach to take. Having a system with dollar amounts that someone has saved the company, with possible trips or gifts as rewards for whoever saves the most in a certain amount of time, motivates your team to scrutinize even more closely. Rewarding employees for positive behavior will encourage other employees to want to reach the same level as their cohorts.
Keeping your staff aware that cybercriminals may pose as government agencies is also a proactive step to take. Remember, the IRS doesn’t call you and ask for your information; they already have it. You will almost always receive written correspondence in the mail from government agencies, and very rarely be speaking to them on the phone before you do. Prep your staff with some of the warnings around current fraudulent activity going on, and you’ll be saving yourself more headaches down the road.
ONLINE FRAUD CAN AFFECT EVERYONE
No one should ever feel like their company is entirely immune from cybercriminals. Whether you’re a big business or a small business, there are people out there that might take a shine to you, and they might not have the best of intentions.
Aligning yourself with businesses that offer protections for your money is going to be quintessential to maintaining a longstanding growing business. Find cybersecurity teams with a good reputation to test out your system.
Jonathan Corona has 15 years of experience in the electronic payments industry. As MobiusPay’s EVP, Corona is primarily responsible for day-today operations as well as reviewing and advising merchants on a multitude of compliance standards set forth by the card associations. MobiusPay specializes in merchant accounts in the U.S., EU and Asia. Follow them @MobiusPay on Twitter, Facebook and IG.