The holiday season is in full swing, which means more purchases for consumers and more sales for retailers. It’s also the time of year when small businesses and shoppers are most at risk of identity theft and fraud, so it’s no surprise December is National Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month. Here are our tips to help you keep your business and personal information safe.

Assess Your Risk Exposure

According to data security experts, every business will be breached eventually. Your risk exposure is especially high during the holiday season, so you have to be proactive. A breach reporting and readiness service can help you assess and reduce the risk of data breaches. Data protection experts monitor and audit data breach threats for you, train your staff on privacy protection practices, and implement breach notification protocols for your company.

Update and Backup

As the volume of transactions increases during the holiday season, protecting customer data becomes more difficult. Unpatched systems and computers offer a gateway to hackers and cybercriminals. As a result, it’s important to stay on top of updates and check for holes in your network. Install software security patches as soon as they’re released, make regular backups of your data, and invest in an offsite tape/media storage solution.

Destroy Your Paper Documents

In a world where cybercrimes are prevalent, ignoring low-tech information security threats is common. But thieves still rummage through residential trash bins and corporate dumpsters looking for carelessly-discarded confidential documents. Always shred the following records when they’ve reached the end of their retention period:

• Tax records
• Customer files
• Online purchase orders
• Receipts
• Financial statements

Partner with a NAID AAA Certified shredding company to make sure these documents are destroyed securely and efficiently. Your shredding partner can implement a scheduled shredding solution at work and a residential shredding solution at home to prevent your personal, medical and financial data from being compromised.

Educate Your Customers

Phishing scams are everywhere during the holiday season. A cybercriminal could pose as a representative of your company to send an unsuspecting customer a malicious link. Now is the time to remind your clients you will never ask for passwords or other sensitive information via email, phone or text. Always use caution and check with the source before taking any action.

Whether you’re a consumer or business owner, don’t let identity theft ruin your holiday cheer.

For more identity theft and business fraud prevention tips, please contact us by phone or complete the form on this page.

DeVries Business Services proudly serves businesses in Spokane, Eastern Washington, and Northern Idaho.