Help protect your employees and customers from identity theft. This policy from TechRepublic Premium outlines precautions for reducing risk, signs to watch out for, and steps to take if you suspect identity theft has occurred.

While such misfortune may not be 100% preventable for everyone who follows these guidelines (since identity theft can still occur through negligence or lack of awareness on the part of the victim), these steps will help educate personnel and reduce the risk of employee or customer data becoming compromised.

This policy can be customized as needed to fit the needs of your organization.

From the policy:

Identity theft can occur via a number of means, with a varying array of damage to consumers and businesses alike. It involves thieves accessing confidential information, such as social security numbers, birth dates, driver license numbers, mother’s maiden names, accounts/passwords, and other information that enables them to impersonate someone else.

The perpetrators can then proceed to open new accounts or access existing ones and engage in fraudulent behavior to the detriment of their victims. The methods through which they obtain this information can involve physical theft, unauthorized electronic access, or social engineering.

Purpose

This policy provides guidelines to help prevent identity theft for employees and for the customers who entrust the organization with confidential information.