With all that goes into starting a business, owners can easily overlook the importance of thoroughly ensuring their technology systems are safe from cyber security attacks. It's no wonder: knowing what the checkpoints are for a complete information security protocol is an ever-changing landscape.
However, if you're doing business online that requires sharing sensitive information and financial transactions, it's critical to correctly verify identities and documentation within the confines of your industry's compliance rules. Doing this prevents fraud and data breaches that could cost you thousands, if not millions, of dollars; ultimately bringing the end to businesses that are not resourced enough to bounce back.
That's why we put together this guide of what you can do and tools you can use to maximize data protection and information security.
Start With an Assessment
Understanding where you're starting from, so you can see the gaps in your data protection, is integral to setting up your information ecommerce security foundation. Some of the questions you'll want to consider while assessing your current situation are:
- Do my employees understand the importance of cyber security? (The more they understand how crucial cyber security is, the more likely they'll properly follow protocol.)
- Who do I need on my team to help me identify current vulnerabilities?
- What steps should I take to implement the level of information security my business needs?
- How quickly will I be able to detect and recover from a cyber attack should one occur?
You can find out more about ways to protect your business here.
Know Your Customer & Verification Methods
There are sophisticated verification tools available to you to help you identify your customers in real-time through different means. This is all part of a technological domain called "know your customer" or KYC, which is a key component of data protection.
Identity Verification
Artificial intelligence now has the capability to help confirm identities, boost customer conversion rates, comply with regulations, and detect fraud. Combine that AI with biometrics and machine learning, and your customers could still have a yes/no answer within seconds, making your company secure without compromising on customer experience.
Document Verification
A good document verification product will provide you with a quick and easy way to verify your customer's information through certain documents. For example, your customer could take a picture of a utility bill or credit card statement, run it through your program, and you'll have verification automatically. This is especially important in preventing corruption, money laundering, and funding illegal activities.
ID Verification
With ID verification capabilities, you'll be able to establish the genuine identity of your users and prevent user fraud, verify government IDs in real-time automatically and detect digital manipulations of ID images, content, and photos. Be sure to confirm that any fraud protection software you select is meticulous about meeting compliance standards, keeps customer conversion in mind, and simplifies new customer onboarding.
Video Verification
With the global digital payment market predicted to grow to unprecedented levels in 2022, how great would it be to onboard banking customers safely from remote locations? Adding this capability with a high-quality KYC software solution will attract new customers and screen out fraud before it even happens, all while staying within strict compliance requirements.
Address Verification
Collaborating with trusted third parties to confirm the address of your customers is a powerful way to boost your information security and stop fraud before it starts. Good address verification tools and services should allow you to confirm the real-world existence of an address on a government ID and determine whether a person does live at the address extracted from their government ID.
Transaction Monitoring
Transaction monitoring is key for any business that moves money in identifying the risk of potential cyber-attacks, streamlining due diligence processes, detecting suspicious activity, managing investigations, leveraging external data sources, and submitting regulatory filings. Finding a transaction monitoring service that can perform these crucial tactics is key in strengthening your information security.
Screening & Monitoring
Ongoing automated screening and monitoring of your customers is another way you can reduce the risk of online fraud and money laundering. The right KYC software platform and services will allow you to combine ID verification and AML screening into a single dashboard for streamlined information and systems.
Conclusion
With the emergence of artificial intelligence on a mass scale and customer expectations trending toward being able to handle most transactions online, starting a business to meet these needs is just smart. But even smarter is taking the time to do it right, ensure that your data and your customer's data are completely safe and that you're set up for success in a world of ever-changing technology.
Investing the time and money upfront to ensure that all information security components are in place while meeting all compliance will be well worth it when you and your customers start to enjoy the fruits of a well-oiled and secure machine.