How to protect your company against cyber crime

As more of the world moves into the digital sphere, banking has well and truly moved online with more people and companies managing their finances via an app on a smartphone, or on a website. This enormous growth in online banking has seen an increase in cyber crime. To discover the true extent of cyber crime, and how you can protect your business against it, continue reading our helpful guide below.

What is cyber crime?

In the modern age of online banking, the threat of cyber crime has grown. No longer do you have to protect just one account or computer in your office, but multiple accounts accessing cloud services in different locations. Cyber criminals are now able to use advanced techniques to bypass your security and access your finances.

Fraudsters will use many tactics to try and gain access to an individual’s, or a company’s, finances. They do this to steal money, or to gain personal information that they can sell on.

Scammers can hack into systems with poor security to gain financial information, or they can use tricks to deceive people into giving their bank details away.

Importance of combating cyber crime

As a business, there are steps you can take to prepare yourself to deal with cyber crime and protect the company against the threat.

We’ve all heard of data breaches at major corporations, where customer information is leaked, but cyber criminals are finding new ways of accessing the information they’re seeking. Social engineering - a psychological manipulation of people into giving away confidential information - is a common technique used by cyber scammers.

Another technique is phishing, which may include an email or text message designed to trick the user into clicking a link, which would either give the scammer direct access to their information, or would deceive them into giving up personal details. Spear phishing is very similar, as the scammer contacts an individual by pretending to be a reputable source, like their bank or an insurance company.

Fake clients could send emails to companies to attempt to trick the finance team into paying money into accounts belonging to fraudsters. They could also trick someone into forwarding an email with confidential information, like invoice details, making a member of staff believe it to be true, and fooling them into sending money. If fake clients do manage to trick a member of staff into changing the bank details then it can cause misdirection of funds, which can be extremely difficult to retrieve. Simple checks ensure the bank details match the name of the person, or company, you’re expecting to pay.

Training your staff and teaching them what to look out for, and how to report suspicious emails, is the best way to protect your company against fraudsters.

There are other ways, using software, to protect your business against scammers and fraudsters too.

How Interbacs can help your business against cyber crime

Using Interbacs’ inbuilt verification suite, you can verify the account name matches the bank details you’ve entered. The system notifies you when details don’t match, so you know that there’s a problem and a potential scam at hand.

As a company, you can also verify the identity and address of the person to whom you’re speaking. It’s important to perform due diligence when signing up new clients and customers. If they’re ever to make any changes to their account, the same checks should be applied.

As well as using Interbacs’ software to protect your company’s finances, it’s a good idea to invest in some cyber awareness training for all of your staff. There are many threats online now that are getting more sophisticated as time goes by, so it’s imperative that you and your employees know what you’re facing.

If you’d like more information from us, a top Direct Debit Company, on how to protect yourself against cyber crime, contact us today on 0161 667 0758, or email us at sales@interbacs.com.