Tips and practices to prevent identity theft fraud in UAE

Cybersecurity and physical thefts remain the primary concern of the industry, mainly dealing with customer data directly. The increasing rate of breaches currently is due to the sophistication in attacks and the negligence of data controllers. The cyberattacks are the worst of all since they take direct control over the industry network and steal customer data. This act can lead to identity theft crimes, which is very problematic for the customers and the company. Another form of stealing is the physical one. The confidential files and documents lying in the office cabins are attacked by a malicious insider. Such important files on falling in the hands of wrongful people result in extreme consequences. The one who steals is subjected to legal proceedings later, but the companies from which the data gets stolen is held guilty first.
It is a matter of great concern that the annual global investments in compensating for the data breaches are way higher than expected. The estimated data breach cost to be $3trillion by the end of 2021. So why not save that money and invest in security proofing the vulnerable industries. The hospitality industry, automobile industry, law industry, financial industry, and similar industries have experienced the worst data breaches and security compromises in the past. Getting over the crimes of breach and theft is not easy. However, by devising effective methods, one can minimize post-breach losses.
Many legislative bodies in the developed and developing nations have laid down strict rules and regulations regarding cybersecurity in industries. The laws are written exclusively for specific industries. The protocols and policies are equally applied to every industry size- small, medium, or large businesses. On failing to comply with these rules, the industry owners are laden with a heavy penalty. A separate course of compromise applies to the customers for the financial and social loss they suffer. Besides these, loss in reputation, customers, and market value are the additional unavoidable losses.

What is identity theft?

When one talks about cyberattacks and data breaches, identity theft pops up in the mind immediately. In simple words, identity theft is the crime of stealing personal and financial data of users and customers for illegal purposes. Using their identity to commit fraud and making illegal transactions or purchases is a major offense. The thieves can use personal data and spend using credit cards, debit cards, and buying expensive items, and then reselling them. The most common types of identity theft or financial ID theft, medical ID theft, Social Security number ID theft, character or criminal ID theft, and driver license ID theft. It is very difficult to save oneself from this crime of identity theft. The extensive usage of data in every industry makes the customer vulnerable to identity theft. There are legal liabilities on the thief and the companies from whom the data is lost. Fixing an ID theft problem is not an easy job. It takes weeks and months to solve this problem. By the time the customers are compensated by the companies found guilty for losing their data to frauds.
The different ways by which the crime of identity theft occurs are discussed below.
Medical identity theft occurs when the documents containing patient information such as health status and insurance policies are stolen. According to research, 16.5 million patient records were hacked and data was compromised in the healthcare industry breaches.
Social media posts are the source of information to criminals about details such as name, address, birthdays of people.
Impersonation identity theft crime occurs when an unknown caller informs you about verifying the authenticity of your documents or taxes. They insist on the penalties/ taxes owed by you and requesting immediate pay right away. These fraud calls are challenging to detect due to the professionalism expressed by the callers.
Using your stolen identity to get a job or get a tax refund also occurs through Identity theft crimes. Your social insurance number and identity details can be used for causing this crime.
Frauds can create a new account using your social insurance numbers and other personal details. It is difficult to steal credit card data due to uniquely designed chip cards. However, opening a new account with your name, social insurance number, address, and phone number is very feasible. Such frauds are difficult to detect, and the damages are severe. One should be careful with this accounting fraud and hide their financial and personal data from stealing.

How identity theft affects business?

Criminals have started to target businesses for bulk identity theft and increased the risk of data breaches. The individuals are no more the only targets for identity theft.
Some of the possible methods of causing theft in businesses are discussed below.

Big purchases on credit cards

Criminals use corporate credit cards and their accounts to make immense purchases. Since corporate businesses have more accessibility to heavy purchases and less scrutiny, detection of abnormal activities is difficult. This way, the businesses are financially affected.

Minimal security maximum theft

Businesses focus little budget and time on their security for financial transactions. They lack the motivation to closely investigate the purchases made by their company. This way, the criminals are on the advantageous side. They steal for a long time because no one notices them stealing.

Fraud orders to corporations

The sophistication in the attack of the thieves is advanced. They order huge consignments from these companies for their products. They use the stolen cheques and credit card information for making the payments for those purchases.

Accessibility to information

Some of the essential and personal information about a company is enough to establish fraud transactions. The information about the business like address, partners, registration numbers, and more are easily available in both online and offline mode. Getting access to either of them is very simple either, through cyberattack or physical theft.
Some of the scams that occur in businesses are given below in brief.

Fake office supplies

Attackers and to use fake invoices for getting paid for products that do not exist, or services, or online advertising, and more. The nature of these bills is urgent that makes the company pay as soon as possible.

Malware attacks

A very significant and malicious threat that infiltrates the electronic devices for accessing personal and business information. This method of attack damages the connectivity of the devices. It is difficult to get malware detected on the devices. Securing the devices from spam emails and avoiding downloading attachments in them can safeguard the devices.

Proximity to corporate

It is one of the most recognized scams by fraudsters. The infiltrator joins another close community, wins the trust of the workers, and then steal the money in the form of a development scheme investment. This method is also difficult to diagnose since all the insider workers become suspicious.

Directory listing check

In this scam, a caller fakes to authenticate the listing, of course, a fraud business directory and then charges for it.

Growing risks and vulnerabilities

The impact of identity theft is rising every day, and the associated risks are growing too.
Every two seconds, there is a new victim of identity theft. It may sound like a piece of bad news, but it is not the worst yet. There are efficient steps and precautionary measures that everyone in the industries and businesses can take to minimize the risk of identity theft in their institutions. Especially the individuals who give their data to business corporations must be extra careful. Firstly, everyone should know what the risks and vulnerabilities of a data breach and identity theft are. Then adopting the steps that could reduce these threats should be taken care of. The average data breach can cost a company $3.62 million. The cost of a data breach by 2021 is estimated to be $3 trillion.

The stats may be horrifying, but there is something to be done to prevent data breach incidents in the industry. Saving the customer data from any misuse should be the topmost priority of every business.

Tackling the risks

Some of the common strategies that thieves utilize to steal personal data and the countermeasures to be adopted by you are discussed below.

Remain up-to-date

Industries, specifically the software companies should regularly update and improve their solutions. With legacy technologies, the chances of a breach become more. Keeping the software devices up to date and changing the hardware devices as per their compatibility can reduce the risks of software theft and invasion.

Strong passwords

Always choose a very complex password to log into your computer and other industry network systems. Even when a device gets stolen, the hackers should be unable to unlock it by simply guessing the password. You can use complex combinations of numbers, symbols, letters, and more similar characters. Never save the password on the device. Keep different passwords for different websites, devices, and networks. Install software that wipes of all the data when falls into malicious hands or gets stolen.

Probable threats

By 2018, 12 .1 billion mobile phones and portable devices were used. The growth of devices has only increased since then and is expected to accelerate in the upcoming years. Protecting mobile phones with a password or fingerprint protection is essential if you work in a corporate firm dealing with lots of confidential data. By keeping the operating system updated and logging out of the systems when not in use is important. Keep the internet connections and Bluetooth off when not required. Most of the risk can be reduced by these simple methods.

Safe sharing of files

Social media has helped in growing businesses on the global level. But with great marketing advantages, the demerits and threats are also real. Attackers can steal corporate information via social media easily. They can use it to take over employee and customer information. Handling social media with security should be A priority for the security managers. Enforcing Specific guidelines regarding uploading posts and details about people on the online platform would save you from a tedious job. Training the employees about protected online usage should be given. It might not cross your mind but simple activities such as likes and comments on posts can give opportunities to attackers to gain access to information.

Locking the device

Every mobile and electronic device containing data should have secure passwords to unlock them. In case the device gets stolen, the software within the device should wipe all the data on its own. Every device like laptop, smartwatches, smartphones, and the latest technology-based devices should have this feature of locking the device.

Phishing scams

Be very careful whenever you open an email from known or unknown sources. Most of the time these emails are Spam and clicking on the links can send all your data to the sender of the spam email. Always make sure that the sender is on your list of email senders. Visit the website or call the company to verify if the link provided by them in the email is authentic or not.

Authentic downloads

Whenever you install a new application or software on your electronic devices, make sure they are downloaded from the original and authentic source. Scan the application for any worms and Trojan horses. Fake and poor software can take over your entire device and send critical data to the attackers.
These are some of the best methods for reducing the risks and vulnerabilities in an information-based industry. Taking precautions is way better than falling into the trap and paying for unintentional data loss.

Precautionary steps for industries

Almost 28% of consumers avoid retailers after a security breach. It’s time for small and medium-sized businesses to adopt effective strategies in their security policies. Businesses need to realize the role of employees in the security environment. To ensure maximum safety and secure processes, employees should understand the risks of a data breach.
Businesses should regularly update their office equipment such as laptops, smartphones, electronic data containing devices, and more. The files and documents containing confidential data should be shredded when not in use. The clean desk policy should be adopted by every employee to keep a check on documents.
These are some of the clear-cut areas that could be vulnerable to data breach and identity theft. However, several unrecognized and unidentified loopholes could be potential sources for identity theft crimes.

Possible data breach sources

Some of the sources of a data breach in the office are often ignored or discussed below in detail. The reason why the particular office area is vulnerable and how to minimize the risks are given below.

Printers and printing area

The workers and printing head often leave important papers near the printing site. Anyone from the employees can pick up the paper and use it for the wrong intended purposes.
This problem can be tackled by implementing a specific code or password to access the printing area for a printing job. By this method, the printing staff can ensure that the employee who assigns the job picks the printed documents after the work is done.

Trash cans and recycle bins

Most of the employees discard the unwanted sheets of paper into the dustbin without giving a second thought. Sometimes the confidential papers go directly into the dustbin without burning or trading. It is a golden opportunity for infiltrators to dig into the trash cans and extract the files.
By introducing the shredding policy, risk can be eliminated. Making sure that the paper is destroyed before going into the dustbin is an effective technique to prevent data theft. Utilizing shredded paper for producing recycled products would also be a great initiative towards the environment.

Unorganized working desks

The huge piles of files lying on the desk are a great source of mess. Anyone can walk in and pick up the file and read it at any time. This creates opportunities for a data breach. The employees are represented as malicious insiders in such a vulnerable data theft situation.
To avoid such a panic situation, the organizations should ensure that a clean desk policy is efficiently enforced. The unwanted files should be shredded, and the confidential files should be locked away. Training the employees to work in a secure environment is necessary.

Electronic media devices

The electronic storage of data on devices is a risk source for data theft- cloud services, hard disk, jump drives, and USB keys that contain private files of the organization. These can be easily is stolen or infiltrated by malicious attackers. The devices are not secure as we might think them to be.
To combat this problem, you should work wisely. Encrypt all the data that is used outside your office. The outdated and legacy devices should be destroyed or replaced with state-of-art devices. Destroy the devices with any tiny pieces of information left that are not required by you anymore in the future. Up-to-date software that wipes the content on theft and data that would never be recovered is necessary. Verifying the security protocols of cloud services regularly. Restricting the access to upload and use the data from remote locations.

Work outside office

Employees carrying work outside the office to remote locations such as - hotels, airplanes, cabs, cafes, homes, and more, invite risks of theft/breach. With the work transforming into a digital platform, the files are opened and used in any remote environment, and the public internet is accessible on the working devices (laptops, smartphones).
This problem can be reduced by introducing a strict policy that files would not be carried outside the office in either physical or digital form.
The staff should be well instructed about the access and disposal of information outside the work location.
Proper training to staff about work outside the office ensures minimizing the risk on personal devices such as laptops and mobile phones.
The devices in the offsite workspace should have the capacity to self-destroy the data in case of theft.

Increasing inside threats

You might have a firm belief that most of the data theft occurs due to third parties and malicious outsiders. Well, that might be true to some extent. However, an intentional or accidental mistake by the employees working within the organization can also increase the risk of theft.
The employees often put the organization in vulnerable situations. The most challenging part is that the duration for the identity theft detection incident is around six months. The time taken to resolve such an occurrence is around two months. Therefore, the corporate must take care of the insider workers and ensure security from their end.
When the threat increases within the organization, attention must be drawn towards stricter policies and control over the data accessed. Strictly abiding by the firm policies about information security, the companies can take control of malicious insiders. The cloud services, file servers, and store databases must be monitored at all activity levels. Both the external and internal downloading of any data should be considered from a breach point of view. Developing the activeness among employees about data security, increasing the monitoring activities, and controlling the access to data can save your time from detecting identity theft breaches.

What steps to adopt?

Identity theft is one of the major problems of most of the industries and globally. It is high time that consumers and businesses protect themselves from malicious attackers. By adopting some of the strict policies, the risks and vulnerabilities can be reduced to a great extent.
By implementing the clean desk policy, where the employees regularly destroy the unwanted files and lock the confidential files in a protected locker box.
By shredding the unwanted files when they are no longer required by any department of the institution. Securely destroying the files in a private and within the office premises is essential.
Laying out a precise plan about document management processes is critical. The data management authorities must develop effective strategies for monitoring the flow of data from one department to another, and its access to the employees.
Deriving a life-cycle of documents with different stages of document storage and disposal of confidential data. The classified documents should be segregated and identified, labeled, and stored until the disposal time comes.
Training the staff is one of the critical points. Most of the breaches occur due to human error. Around 28% of data breaches in companies are due to mistakes by employees. This situation can be avoided by regularly auditing the different departments of the institutions. Awaring the employees about the importance of data security and the consequences of field compliance is necessary.
The training should include details about remote access to information, secure surfing on the internet and online access, precautions while downloading software and apps, and ensuring digital security such as strong passwords and locking of electronic devices.

Best Tips for Businesses

Here are some of the best tips that can significantly reduce the risk from inside as well as outside of your business.

Surprise monitoring and audits

Internal audits are a very important step for ensuring a safe workplace. Surprise audits can significantly improve the performance in terms of increased security. The insiders with wrong intentions would always find themselves in difficult situations. This would develop a sense of fear along with a safe working environment for other employees.

Strict and regular employees training

Regular meetings and awareness programs for the employees can help the companies to get over the security risks. Trained employees would find themselves in a position to detect fraud and fake incidents. The sense of working in a secure environment should be the motive behind these workshops and seminars.

Effective monitoring

The head of the security department should be proactively monitoring the flow of information and access to confidential data. Online monitoring should be stricter to reduce the chances of identity theft and fraud.

Hotlines

It allows the employees to report any suspicious activities in their environment. This method is very effective and has reduced fraud cases significantly.

How EndoShred protects Identity?

Every industry- big or small must give a tough time to their foes by partnering with EndoShred. We are one of the best providers of information security in the UAE. We protect what matters to you. We have always considered security as our topmost priority.

What services do we provide to customers?

1. Paper shredding

We shred all the unwanted paper documents in your office using our high-speed shredding trucks. All you have to do is deposit the personal files in the locked consoles given by us. The shredding of tons of papers is carried out in a secure environment.

2. Electronic device shredding

Data in the magnetic tapes, hard disk, memory sticks, compact discs, flash drives, and more are destroyed by us in the securest way. No traces of data would be left.

One-time Shredding Service

Endoshred’s Secure On-site Document Shredding Process

Scheduled Shredding Service