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Find the solution for your needs with our Find My Solutions ToolCyber-Crime – Fact Rather than Fiction
Many Hollywood movies have focused on plots involving cyber-crime and identity theft. Today the threat is very real and doesn’t always come with a happy ending. Billions of people around the world have become victims…
Organised crime has gone high-tech; some holding companies’ records to ransom. Other criminals steal passwords and identities and hack into financial accounts. Some lure their victims by posing as legitimate businesses through phishing sites or various scamming emails.
Financial Breakdown
The financial and personal loss worldwide is astronomical. For Australia specifically in 2016, “$2.64 million is the average total cost of a data breach” for a company, with $142 being “the average cost per lost or stolen record.”
The good news is that there are very effective actionable measures you can take now to be proactive. Confidential data and privacy precautions go together like bacon and eggs. It is always a good time to focus on renewing your company’s efforts to protect itself from cyber-crime. Each industry faces their own unique challenges when it comes to privacy including protection of private client data, credit card details, and employee contracts, etc.
Technology is growing at such a rapid rate that it seems laws and privacy standards sometimes cannot keep pace with each of the many dynamic and evolving complexities in the digital space.
While nations focus on various strategies to combat these problems globally; in Australia, the government has extended the Verification of Identity (VOI) standards to the property industry. The VOI provides a framework to authenticate the identity of people or organisations involved in a conveyancing transaction, thereby reducing the risk of land title fraud and other improper land dealings.
What can you do in-house to properly manage and safeguard VOIs?
Don’t hold paper copies or scanned images in-house and run the risk of exposing your company to hefty fines through accidental loss or theft. Instead, create a VOI episode in the Report Vault and upload images or information directly to the TIMG secure website. VOIs can be easily retrieved online via name, subject matter, file number, and even date. Once found, upload, comply, and relax!
Still worried?
Fret not! When using TIMG, your files and data are securely stored off-site on servers in Australia. TIMG’s operations are certified to and/or compliant with the highest Australian and international records management standards.
Cyber-crime is a reality. All businesses are liable under the Privacy Act to ensure data is secured and disposed of safely. In the event that data privacy has been compromised by another party, businesses may still be held accountable. Off-site secure storage of documents, data tapes or media is still the most efficient method to prevent against accidental loss or theft of sensitive information; having reliable back-ups and disaster recovery systems is paramount.
Ultimately, investing in professional privacy and security measures buys you a peace of mind, so you can work with that free feeling of reassurance, knowing that there is a cushion of security around privacy.