Kroll Fraud Solutions Blog – A Dialogue on Data Security

One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions involves putting oneself on a diet – but perhaps consumers should really consider a “data diet.” Kroll strongly advises both its corporate clients and consumers to practice data minimization to dispose of old, outdated or unused data. The practice is important to data security because thieves can’t steal what you don’t have. It’s a great “exercise” for consumers, too, because everyone has a tendency to unnecessarily gather and carry plenty of paperwork, emails, and other items that hold sensitive personal information – items that serve no other purpose than as a liability for theft or loss.

On Monday, January 18, 2010, Kroll Fraud Solutions will post the first in our series of data security tips for consumers. The tips are part of our effort to make data security a New Year’s resolution for all consumers.

There are many ways that individuals can safeguard their sensitive personal information. Check back next week, and in the future, for helpful tips and advice.

Planning on launching that new corporate social media initiative this year? While this has the potential to be a boon opportunity for many companies, it is important to remember that it opens up new and dangerous avenues for fraudsters to siphon sensitive PII and UBI. Any employees involved in directly engaging customers through social media outlets must be trained to recognize and avoid potential scams and to never divulge information such as passwords, logins, or the like. Outlining in the company’s social media policy – specifically what types of PII or UBI can and cannot be divulged – will also help employees understand the parameters of this new communications channel.

A fundamental tenet of consumer security is reviewing credit reports.  Kroll advises every consumer to perform periodic reviews of their credit reports (no less frequently than every quarter). By doing so, a consumer is better able to spot suspicious activity and potentially lessen the damage to his or her financial identity.

The “bust-out” scam has had many variations, but it’s a tried-and-true method that has actually seen resurgence in recent years, as thieves target small to medium-sized businesses that may not have the resources or the knowledge to catch this type of identity theft until it is too late.

This identity theft scam frequently involves a perpetrator posing as an authorized employee of the business to open lines of credit or purchase merchandise that is then charged back to the “real” business account. With only a few exceptions, states generally do not provide the same types of legal protections for businesses that are afforded to consumers who are victims of credit-related identity theft or account takeover.