Internet fraud could cost you thousands: Are you protected?
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Last Updated: Thursday, 13 March 2008
By Mike Preston
There are new, and growing, online security threats to your business. Here's how to avoid them.
It is possible to buy a person’s credit card details online for less than $1 if you know where to look. Want somebody’s bank account details? It’ll cost you just $30.
The bargain basement price of personal financial information is a sign of how common online data breaches have become. Every day, new ways to attack your business are being devised. You need to know your vulnerabilities, and you need to protect yourself.
A recent survey of Australian small and medium sized business owners by online security software company Symantec found that 46% of businesses have been hit by an internet security threat such as a virus or phishing scam.
And the cost to business of internet security breaches is going up: according to the 2006 AusCERT computer crime and security survey, the average business suffered an annual loss of $241,500 due to electronic attack, computer crime or unauthorised computer access, up 63% from 2005.
In concrete terms, a breach of internet security could put all your customer records in the hands of your main competitor, have your company credit card being used to purchase luxury goods in eastern Europe, or have the details of your next big product launch being auctioned online to the highest bidder.
Or perhaps something less financially damaging, but no less embarrassing – say the hijacking of your company website to advertise the political cause du jour of some teenage hacker.
The scariest thing, however, is that in many cases businesses have no way of knowing they are a victim until afterwards.
Flower and gift business Roses Only is a classic example. In 2007, Roses Only was informed by its bank that an unusually high number of its customers’ credit card details had subsequently been used fraudulently by scammers, with some of the cards reportedly used to make luxury purchases in south east Asia.
Chief executive James Stevens says he didn’t then, and still doesn’t, have any direct evidence that the credit card details were stolen from Roses Only’s data systems, but says he was still forced to take quick action to beef up the business data security.
“It was difficult, because we still haven’t found if our data was compromised, but we couldn’t afford to take things for granted, and so we have significantly lifted security,” Stevens says.
“Losing confidence is very important for an online business, so we acted to earn the confidence of our customers and I think we’ve done that.”
Stevens won’t disclose what it has cost him to improve his IT security, but will say Roses Only will soon be the only business in its sector to achieve tier-one accreditation under Payment Card Industry data security standards.
His advice for business owners? Be proactive in putting the latest data security measures in place.
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