The Season Of Joy For Fraudsters

The festive season is almost upon us pointing to yet another plentiful period for e-mail and credit card transactions. However, there are serious worries that businesses are not taking sufficient steps to protect their customers’ credit card data.

Over £340 million was filched last year through credit card fraud and instances of hacking are rising daily. Indeed, the UK is among the top most targeted countries suffering from phishing attacks.

“Retention of credit card data is an issue for all businesses with many unknowingly holding details on their systems. There could be several reasons for this problem all linked to fairly standard computer processes. Many businesses have already taken steps to both identify and rectify the problem but many have not and it is highly likely that these are the very companies that could be targeted. The truth is that cyber-scammers know that most people are busy around the Christmas holidays so they tailor their emails and social messages with holiday themes in the hopes of tricking recipients into revealing personal information,” said Gerald Irwin of Sutton Coldfield based Licensed Insolvency Practitioners and Business Advisers, Irwin Insolvency.

For small business owners who cannot possibly track what their employees are doing on their company computers, the best advice for you is to have a certified IT expert audit your network to ensure it has the proper security protection in place.

“The issue for small businesses is that they are far less protected than their larger counterparts and it is relatively easy for the entrepreneurial thief to steal IT equipment or hack in to a business and retrieve valuable credit card data. It is perhaps advisable for all businesses to get an IT audit completed well before the festivities begin,” added Mr. Irwin.