For retailers, the holiday shopping season is just heating up – that means increased traffic in stores and online, which is a magnet for thieves, hackers, and scammers all looking to steal consumers’ sensitive personal information. Kroll has worked with many retail organizations to find and fix vulnerabilities and maintain a high level of data security. We’d like to present a few tips we’ve compiled that will help your business and customers enjoy a data-safe 2010 holiday season.

Tip #1: Perform Adequate Background Checks on all Employees

The abundance of announcements from various organizations looking to hire hundreds, even thousands, of temporary employees for the holiday season has been great news for the stagnant job market. However temporary the position, each employee should undergo a thorough background screening test. Frontline employees that engage your customers will have access to a wide variety of data, and even those without direct access can find ways to steal customers’ personally identifying information. While background checks do require upfront costs, they pale in comparison to the cost of a data breach. Why risk it?

Background screening is a proven risk mitigation tool, and while the benefits of weeding out a potential employee who happens to be an identity thief may be hard to quantify, consider this: according to 2009 data from the Verizon Business RISK team and the US Secret Service, 48% percent of all data breaches were caused by insiders. When choosing a screening provider, look for a company that will perform a rigorous check that would include things like address histories, criminal records, education and employment histories, and regulatory sanctions. To be effective, your background screening program should be thorough and have a good track record for accuracy.

Tags: Background Screening, consumer data security, employee background checks, identity thief, retail data security

Categories: Data Security Issues.