Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business: How to Protect Your Business, Customers, and Employees

PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT IN YOUR BUSINESS

How to Protect Your Business, Customers, and Employees

Companies that engage in financial transactions are bound by law to establish and enforce information security programs to prevent identity theft. The shortcoming of current laws is that they specifically address information technology (IT) security—the security of computers and networks. But computers do not steal identities. People do. Recent studies indicate that at least fifty percent or more of identity thefts are committed inside the workplace by a few dishonest employees who steal the social security number, credit card numbers, banking information, or other numbers from their coworkers and customers.

Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business is the first book to address identity fraud from the business perspective. It helps employee-manager teams develop a set of security standards using step-by-step instructions written in plain, easy-to-understand language. Identity theft expert Judith Collins offers practical guidance on how to spot identity theft, as well as how to prevent it from ever occurring. Using techniques culled from industrial and organizational psychology, the management sciences, and the field of criminal justice, the methods covered here are inexpensive, comprehensive, and universally applicable to all businesses, regardless of size, type, or geographic location.

Written to help companies build effective corporate policies that protect the identities of their employees and customers without impacting budgets and business operations, Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business explores:

• What is an "identity"?
• The legal requirements for business
• How to tighten your business borders
• How to recruit your employees for security
• Socializing newcomers to the honest company culture
• The e-business Web site
• E-commerce best practices for customers
• HIPAA: Security for healthcare companies
• The security standard checklist
• The checklist of team prerequisites
• The security focus-group interview
• One company's short- and long-term strategic plan

Any company can become compliant with all current and upcoming laws in six months or less with Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business.

About half of identity thefts are inside jobs according to Collins (industrial and organizational psychology; MSU Identity Theft Crime and Research Lab, Michigan State U.), who addresses this growing problem from a business perspective. After reviewing its nature, scope, and effects, the author presents exercises to lead manager-employee teams toward a business information security program that complies with federal guidelines. Appendices include a security standard checklist, risk sources, the Pareto analysis method, resources, and identity theft legislation supporters.
Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Identity theft in your business stops here

"This book strongly makes the case that identity theft is a very serious workplace problem today. It provides valuable guidance to business and industry HR practitioners on how to address the identity theft problem using I/O psychology. Beyond personnel selection, this book also describes the role of socialization and training programs for new employees, appraisal and feedback related to adherence to security procedures, and risk assessment of work processes in reducing identify theft in organizations. The writing is clear, easy to follow, and flows well. Highly recommended."

–Frank L. Schmidt, Distinguished Professor Tippie College of Business University of Iowa

Identified by the FBI as the top crime of the twenty-first century, identity theft is most commonly committed inside the workplace, and the victims are always a company's employees and customers. Executives, managers, and consultants can now use the latest tools and know-how for combating identity theft with the help of Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business.

Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business presents a comprehensive, four-factor model for implementing an effective information security plan and provides step-by-step guidance on employee selection and training. Brimming with exercises to make each approach easy to implement, this breakthrough guide explores how to:

• Secure personal identification information across four fronts: personnel, processes, proprietary information, and virtual property, such as an e-business Web site
• Implement a comprehensive security model, including Web site risk assessment
• Screen and test employees who have access to sensitive information

Rich with real-world case studies illustrating how identity theft is committed and prevented, Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business clearly demonstrates how you and your employees can foster an honest work culture in your workplace.

Judith M. Collins (East Lansing, MI) is Associate Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. She is also the Director of the Michigan State University Identity Theft Partnership in Prevention.

JUDITH M. COLLINS, PHD, is Associate Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University (MSU), where she teaches information security management. She is also Director of MSU-Business Identity Theft Partnerships in Prevention and the MSU Identity Theft Crime and Research Lab, established in 1999 to work with businesses, law enforcement, and victims of identity theft. She publishes in academic journals, has been a guest on national and local television and radio shows, and is the subject of more than 100 newspaper articles. She is a frequent speaker and conducts law enforcement training throughout the United States.

Preface.

Introduction.

PART I: THE CURRENT STATE OF IDENTITY THEFT.

Chapter 1: What Is an “Identity”?

Chapter 2: Identity Theft: Effects on Victims.

Chapter 3: Identity Crime Is Entrenched.

Chapter 4: Identity Crimes Are Escalating.

Chapter 5: Legal Requirements for Businesses.

Chapter 6: Caveat Lector. Let the Reader Beware.

PART II: IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION.

Chapter 7: The BISP Plan: Tighten Your Business Borders.

Chapter 8: Begin the Exercises: Identify Your Business Identities.

Chapter 9: Securing the People Front: The Security Job Analysis.

Chapter 10: The People Front: Recruitment for Security.

Chapter 11: The People Front: Personnel Selection for Security.

Chapter 12: The People Front: Select for Motivation.

Chapter 13: The People Front: Select for Integrity and Security.

Chapter 14: The People Front: Select for Interpersonal Skills.

Chapter 15: The People Front: Socialization, Company Culture, and the Realistic Job Preview.

Chapter 16: The People Front: Socializing Newcomers to the Honest Company Culture.

Chapter 17: The People Front: Appraisal and Feedback for Performance and Security.

Chapter 18: The Process Front: Secure Business Information Processes.

Chapter 19: The Property Front: The E-Business Web Site.

PART III: MONITORING IDENTITY THEFT.

Chapter 20: The Customer Security Program.

Chapter 21: E-Commerce “Best Practices” for Customers.

Chapter 22: The Legislative Process.

Chapter 23: The HIPAA Database.

APPENDICES.

Appendix A: The Security Standard Checklist.

Appendix B: Checklist of Team Prerequisites.

Appendix C: Structured and Formal Brainstorming: Step-by-Step Instructions.

Appendix D: Cause and Effect Analysis: Step-by-Step Instructions.

Appendix E: The Security Focus Group Interview.

Appendix F: The Security Job Description.

Appendix G: Industrial and Organizational Specialists in Test Development and Validation.

Appendix H: One Company’s Short- and Long-Term Strategic Plan.

Appendix I: The Information Process: Definition, Description, and Illustration.

Appendix J: The Pareto Analysis: Definition, Description, and Illustration.

Appendix K: Forerunners in the Support of Identity Theft Legislation.

Notes.

Index.