Being secure: avoiding small-business identity theft and online banking fraud.

• Author: Bradley, Susan E.
• Position: Businesssecurity

Online transactions are easy, convenient and allow us to purchase and obtain items we'd never be able to purchase in the past. They allow us to more easily obtain our tax refunds, as well as transfer funds and process transactions. But as with most things, there's a dark side: What is convenient for us is convenient for attackers.

We had several clients during tax season that suffered identity theft. We found out when we went to e-file their tax returns and were informed that one of the taxpayers had apparently already filed their returns. The IRS indicated that identity then is massively increasing. We were told to file an affidavit of identity theft, Form 14039, and to contact one of the three credit bureau agencies to begin tracking and monitoring the credit history of the taxpayer. We obtained a report of Social Security earnings to confirm the amounts paid in the past are accurate. Clients impacted by identity theft will receive a PIN number from the IRS. which must be included on future tax returns that are filed.

We're also seeing an increase in online banking fraud, especially among small businesses. Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post journalist, has been tracking many online banking frauds and has watched as small businesses have had their bank accounts wiped clean by fraudsters who were able to obtain the credentials for the accounts.

Think a fraudulent withdrawal of funds to your commercial or business banking account is limited to $50, like a fraudulent credit card transaction? Think you are protected by FDIC: insurance? Think again. FDIC: insurance does not protect our bank account from fraudulent withdrawals. Von have no protection other than attempting to obtain the funds from the criminals that withdrew the funds. In many eases these criminals are located overseas and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute.

Do you do everything you can to protect your online banking? Do you dedicate a computer for online banking and only use this computer for sensitive transactions? Do you ensure that you do not open entail from this computer? Keep in mind that criminals have used targeted phishing entails and java and browser exploits to plant keyloggers on computers.

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Consider the following tips to help you get started on a more secure online road.

Dedication

Dedicate it computer to be used for business purposes to ensure that you won't pick up a keylogger from random web surfing 'fake the recent...