As businesses continue to navigate through this new normal, they’re continuously finding new ways to address criminal threats ranging anywhere from vandalism to cyberattacks. These types of crimes have been known to impact all levels of an organization and often require a great deal of resources to solve. More and more businesses are looking for ways to reduce the frequency and impact of crime that impacts their business. Any business interested in doing this must first start with identifying the types of crime their business is being impacted by, in addition to the attackers.
This will largely vary across different business spectrums. In the case of retailers, common crimes extend to shoplifting, burglary and vandalism. Much less significant than major cyberattacks, but still an issue. In order to prevent these attacks, retailers should consider installation of security tools like cameras, alarms and other shoplifting detection tools. These tools improve the surveillance levels of the retailer and can provide valuable information about the culprits if they manage to slip away.
As mentioned previously, some of these are just petty crimes. Larger, international businesses may require more protection. In these cases, these businesses turn to the unique protection services offered by security organizations, such as close monitoring. Through some of the most comprehensive protection packages, businesses can be defended with tools that limit the ways customers can criminalize a business. A traditional system would include access codes, card readers and fingerprint readers to protect all of the central entry and exit points. These tools are often paired with individual ID badges for all organizational personnel to further limit unwanted guests accessing company property.
External threats are certainly an issue, but what about internal threats? The rate of internal fraud may surprise you. Over the last two years, about 47% of companies have experienced some form of fraud. This includes customer fraud, cybercrime and asset misappropriation. A breakdown of the crimes and culprits indicated an even split between internal and external perpetrators at 40% each.
This sort of increase in internal crime indicates that more and more employees are willing to defy their company and act against them. This sort of activity will vary across industries. Some retailers may experience their employees stealing from registers or taking merchandise for themselves for free. More professional organizations may have employees willing to conspire in sharing company trade secrets or intellectual property. Whatever the case, too much of this crime could result in a business failing into bankruptcy.
In order to weed out the employees capable of doing this, businesses must be cautious in the hiring process. Avoiding bringing on the wrong employee can make all the difference, but in order to accomplish that, organizations must fully flesh out their right hiring processes. This is done through credit and background checks, contacting references and verifying professional information.
These hiring processes may help protect against the wrong employees but protecting against internal fraud can also be done through the right cybersecurity measures. Additional safeguarded passwords can reduce the risk of identity theft and social engineering attacks. The same can be said for updated firewalls and antivirus software that should be used for each computer in any workplace.
In order for your business to avoid becoming the victim of any of these types of attacks, it will require proper protection. With the right preventive measures, including detection systems, your business can defend its profitability any threat. For more information on these different types of defenses, in addition to strategies to further reduce the rate of these crimes, check out the infographic coupled alongside this post. Courtesy of Cancom Systems.