Prevent Identity Theft

Best Practices for Business

Within the last several months, the FBI has seen a significant increase in fraud involving the theft and exploitation of valid online banking credentials belonging to small and medium sized businesses. The fraud effort is normally the result of an online customer’s computer being compromised by the installation of malware or spyware. Many times this installation occurs when an unsuspecting recipient clicks on links in unsolicited e-mails or visits a compromised website on the Internet.

There are many forms of this cyber fraud occurring, and the criminals initiating them frequently change their methods in order to continue their deceptive practices. Therefore, it is vitally important that we all remain vigilant in the fight to protect confidential information. Security is a priority for us, and we continually work to provide a safe and secure environment for our online banking customers. In addition, there are recommended steps you should consider implementing to help protect your business in the online banking environment, thus mitigating the opportunity for loss of funds.
 
General

• Never provide personal or confidential information - always protect
• Do not respond to or click on links from e-mails
• Reconcile all accounts and statements quickly
• Tighten Internal Controls
• Maintain up to date anti-virus/anti-spyware with regular scans
• Implement firewall configured correctly
• Restrict employee P/C hardware such as C/D Burners and USB ports
• Strict policies for confidential information storage and destruction
• Use cross-cut shredders
• Employee training
• Investigate purchasing insurance to reduce the risk of loss should fraud occur

Online Banking

• Always protect Online Banking log on credentials
• Use a dedicated PC for conducting financial transactions; turn it off when not in use; no
  other activity on this PC (do not use to check e-mail or access web sites)
• Monitor all activity daily via online banking
• Use dual authorization for online banking transactions
• Robust Passwords
• Idle P/C “timeouts”

External Controls

• Penetration testing - Hire a professional hacker to infiltrate your network
• Perform a “social” engineering test to obtain data from your employees
• Review vendors frequently to insure compliance with your confidentiality policies
• Use encrypted e-mails when confidential data is sent

   

Best Practices for Consumers

First Merchants is committed to protecting your personal information. The security recommendations provided here will help you protect your personal information and will aid you in protecting yourself in all your online activity.
 
General

• First Merchants will never make an unsolicited request for any confidential information from you via email or phone call or require that you update your account details on a web page. Do not answer unsolicited e-mail or phone calls.
• Retrieve your mail from you mailbox promptly and mail sensitive information such as bill payments from secure mailboxes.
• Shred documents with a cross cut shredder that contain confidential information; even credit card offer should be shredded.
• Review your free credits reports regularly at www.annualcreditreport.com.
• Keep your log on credentials secret. Do not give them to anyone or leave them unsecured. Change your passwords regularly.

Email and Texting

• Be aware of phishing e-mails. Normally they will require you to click a link or open an attachment to verify or change your account. First Merchants will not send e-mails of this type and you should delete them. 
• Do not click on links in emails, particular forwarded e-mails or e-mails you were not expecting. If you trust the site, type the address in your browser, do not copy and paste the address.
• Do not answer text messages requesting your account information. First Merchants will not send these texts and you should delete them.
• Be suspicious of email headers including the email sender's identity, which can be forged easily.
• Do not fill out forms in an email because it can be difficult or impossible to tell where the information will actually be sent. 
• Spam e-mails should be immediately deleted. These can be forwarded from friends or from people you do not know. Many times they offer something “too good to be true” or other enticing offers.

Your Computer

• Install anti-virus/anti-spyware software. Configure it to update automatically and schedule regular scans of your hard drive.
• Ensure you have a firewall installed and active to help prevent intrusion on your PC. 
• Keep your operating systems, applications and Internet browsers updated regularly.
• Patches and updates can be configured to install automatically or you may do it manually, but the trick is to make sure it is done consistently. This will help to keep your software secure against intrusions.
• If you have a wireless network, ensure it is setup with industry standard protections.
• Consider turning off your PC when not needed.

Visit these links for more security information:

Report Identity Theft • Debit Card Fraud • Current Security Alerts