From entrepreneurial endeavors to global corporations, every type of business can benefit from a strong cybersecurity strategy. And now, with more employees working remotely than ever, it’s even more critical to protect your organization against fraud. Here are some things to concentrate on to help keep your business safe.

1. Implement cybersecurity training for all staff

Educating your employees about cybersecurity is the first step to ensuring your business is protected against fraud. After completing training, employees will have a better understanding of commonly used tactics and scams, so they can identify fraud before it impacts the company.  

2. Segregate duties and implement dual control

When you segregate duties, you assign the separate steps of a task to multiple people. This ensures that no individual has complete control over an important process, reducing the risk of fraud or theft. Similar to segregation of duties, dual control requires two separate entities to gain authorized access to information or complete a task. This ensures one person is not able to access materials or information without the cooperation of the other. Implement dual controls on payment initiation and approval, payment instruction changes, and account reconciliation.

3. Practice out-of-band authentication

Always use a separate authentication channel to verify the identity of customers, employees, and clients. For example, if you are communicating with someone via email, ask them to verify their identity over the phone. This makes it more difficult for cybercriminals to commit fraud, because it requires them to compromise two separate channels of communication. Never initiate movement of funds based on email-only requests, even if they appear to come from high-level executives.

4. Include fraud in the disaster recovery plan

Just as you’d prepare for a natural disaster or financial crisis, it’s important to plan your company’s response to a data breach or fraudulent activity. Outline how you will recover lost data, secure your networks, and communicate with law enforcement.

5. Research the value of fraud insurance and cyber insurance

Fraud insurance can be customized for your business to reduce your liability in the event of fraud. Talk to your insurance company about reputational harm from cybersecurity attacks, or business interruptions that lead to income loss. And, if fraud does occur, does your insurance company reimburse you for ransom payments to regain control of your data files and computers, or reimburse you for the funds that were fraudulently transferred? Does your insurance company cover any legal consultations you may need to have? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, it’s time to ask!

6. Utilize positive pay services

Positive pay services can detect forged, altered, and counterfeit checks before the money leaves your account by comparing the check register uploaded by the business to what is presented to the bank. If there’s a discrepancy, the bank holds the check and notifies the business owner for verification.

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