Best way to prevent company cyber crime? Background screening, says study

In a recent study regarding cyber crime and company security, business professionals were asked what factors they deemed most important when it comes to protecting their companies against hacks, stolen data and other cyber crimes. While survey respondents had the option to choose from a variety of factors — such as physical security, access control and anti-malware software — a full 60 percent of respondents said the most important form of security is to conduct background checks on potential and current employees. This is perhaps because 35 percent of respondents see former employees as the highest security threats, only behind professional hackers (whom 55 percent of respondents saw as a security threat). In addition, 47 percent of the professionals were concerned about their own personally identifiable information being stolen due to cyber crime, more so than about other information — such as credit or financial information, or intellectual property — being stolen. The study showed that in 2015 alone, “compromised records” have resulted in approximately $400 million in employer losses. Ninety-eight percent of respondents said that they thought background screening was at least “somewhat important,” with 57 percent declaring background screening to be “extremely important” to cyber security. Likewise, 35 percent of respondents thought re-screening existing employees was, at least, “somewhat important.” However, despite these admissions, only 13 percent of the employees’ companies conduct repeat screening year after year, with an additional 10 percent conducting employee re-screening biannually. Sixty-one percent of respondents said their companies never re-screened employees after hiring. To learn more about conducting employment re-screening, or to create re-screening policies, get in touch with Mind Your Business. photo credit: Phone security via photopin (license)]]>