Identity Theft: Why It’s Your Employee’s Biggest Threat Online & How You Can Preve It- Best In 2022

Why It’s Your Employee’s Biggest Threat Online

What comes to mind when you picture identity theft? If you’re like most people, you probably envision an evil criminal lurking by the dumpster waiting for an unshredded credit card bill to come their way or perhaps an unscrupulous hacker trying to break into a server that’s brimming with sensitive customer information. 

Surprisingly enough, identity theft as a result of employee information being stolen at the workplace is a much more likely cause. Studies indicate that in the United States, someone becomes a victim of identity theft every 14 seconds. Many of those affected are employees at some unsuspecting company. As it turns out, identity theft is a professional concern as a personal problem.

Here’s how identity theft can impact your employees and how you can avert the risks associated with it.

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Identity Theft Can Eat Into Your Employee’s Time, Engagement, and Resources

When someone makes away with your identity, it’s up to you to get it back. From freezing your credit cards and bank accounts to reporting the fraud to the relevant authorities, there are a lot of time-consuming activities associated with recovering from the theft and preventing further damage. The same applies to your employees.

Beyond that, there’s also the possibility that the affected employee might have to deal with a huge emotional burden — especially if the malicious actors destroyed their credit card account(s) or emptied their bank accounts to the last dollar before they could take action. In addition, the affected workers might be using working hours to try and recover their stolen identities. According to one study, it takes upwards of 100 hours to correct identity theft; that’s a whopping 12 working days gone down the drain. 

This on-the-job distraction and missed work will eventually lead to employee disengagement. As you probably know by now, a disengaged employee is far less likely to work hard, feel motivated or meet expectations for their role. That’s a huge blow to your organization’s bottom line and productivity.

Thankfully, this is a preventable situation, as long as you’re proactive and have the right tools and policies in place.

What You Can Do to Protect Employee Information From Identity Theft

Unquestionably, it’s your responsibility as an employer to protect employee information from theft. After all, you stand to suffer the biggest loss if one of your employees gets fleeced of their identity.

A good place to start is to invest in a robust solution that covers all imaginable angles of identity theft. Norton with LifeLock, for example, offers the best identity theft protection that spots early indicators of theft or exposure so you can take action before the situation becomes irreparable.

It’s also good practice to educate your workforce and establish a culture of security. When every single employee understands the repercussions of identity theft and the kind of behaviors that can raise their chances of becoming a victim, they’re less likely to expose themselves to malicious actors.

Other helpful ways to keep identity thieves at bay include (but are not limited to):

• Conduct criminal and background checks on all prospective employees
• Avoid hiring temporary employees who’ve not had background checks
• Use numbers other than Social Security numbers when identifying computers in their laptops, tablets, and computers
• Train staff with access information about keeping that information secure

It’s Time to Protect Your Team

Protecting your employ and democratizing security can put you a few solid steps ahead of hackers. Better yet, it can save your business from the monumental reputational damage and steep costs that often characterize identity theft cases. The best time to take proactive action was yesterday; the second-best time is today. Do your due diligence.