Many thanks to NPI’s controller Mary Lowder, CFE for this article.
Any private data your business possesses, company and personal, can be predisposed to fraud. Is your organization prepared for fallout from its loss? We are talking about your clients’, customers’ and employees’ classified, confidential, and personal data. Keep in mind that losing data can be costlier than the loss of cash or other assets. Businesses are attractive targets for fraudsters who tend to have deeper pockets than most individuals. A business’s ability to detect fraud is sometimes hindered by the substantial number of transactions that occur. Now–how prepared are you?
In Part I – ‘Is Business Banking Fraud on Your Radar?’ we discussed account takeover/identity theft and authentication security structures. This concluding part looks at measures the IT department needs to deploy.
Regardless of the size of your business, you possess confidential, classified and personal data.
All organizations have electronic data. Don’t blink: technology changes–and cutting-edge combatants, for example fraudsters– use methods which are increasingly sophisticated. These developments have yielded a host of new security concerns. Awareness of threats and how to control them are paramount to your data security internal controls. Let’s look at some of the more sophisticated processes and think more about: transaction analytics, automating email alerts and artificial intelligence.
Who in your business interacts with the financial institutions? Are you analyzing the payroll data and expense reimbursements on a monthly basis? It is essential to monitor every transaction that takes place to know which employee is doing what. The goal is to have complete assurance that all transactions taking place aren’t being compromised. Consider taking a course on analyzing bank records from the National Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Some of the benefits of using transactional analytics include:
- Full population analysis versus sample testing
- Enhanced understanding of root causes, processes and systems
- Quantifying the impact of errors and problems
IT can incorporate automation tools and automated emails to alert customers when something unusual happens. When a customer makes a change to their account, firms can automatically send emails to notify their clients changes have occurred. This is especially important for password changes on financial accounts.
Have you heard of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? AI can help reduce the time needed to weed out real fraud and eliminate false alarms. Also called ‘Augmented Intelligence’, AI technology is on the horizon and will be a valuable tool in all areas of fraud prevention. Using technology to enhance human abilities will reduce errors and increase security.
Regardless of the size of your business you possess confidential, classified and personal data. Stay aware of cyberfraud trends and their impacts on data security: monetary loss, regulatory concerns, privacy breach effects on your business & clients just for starters. Business owners and managers need to continuously think about what information they share with their financial institutions and then build the foundation to protect it.
