The COVID-19 crisis has brought with it an unprecedented number of challenges to us as individuals and as a society. While we as individuals work hard to protect ourselves and our families, by keeping a distance, washing our hands and limiting the number of times we go outside our homes – as entrepreneurs it’s time to ask the question, are you really doing everything you can to protect yourself and your business? 

Unfortunately, cyber criminals love the chaos that COVID-19 has created, and feed on our fear and vulnerability. At We Fight Fraud, our experts are reviewing the dark web and seeing the crimes being committed – the opportunists making the most of the crisis by coming up with devious and inventive ways to con the unsuspecting entrepreneur. Are you as aware as you need to be of the simple mistakes that could cost you dearly?  We estimate that cybercrime has increased as much as 80% since lockdown began.  Below are the keyways entrepreneurs can protect themselves, to make sure that the criminals don’t win!

1. Secure your WiFi by changing the password on your broadband hub. And make sure that your employees who are working from home, do the same, particularly if they’re dealing with sensitive information.  

2. Check the bank details of all suppliers by talking to them over the phone – particularly if you get an email chasing for money or notifying you of a change in bank details. Hacking into accountancy software or team members’ emails is a common scam and it is then simply to change bank details without you noticing (until it’s too late).

3. Create secure, unpredictable passwords (e.g. no family names or dates). Introduce two-step authentication for your whole team and keep records of all who have access to your internal databases and emails. Change passwords when people leave.

4. This may sound obvious but make sure you have anti-virus software installed on all your team’s computers and mobile devices. If you start to receive suspicious calls or emails, they should alert you. 

5. Never provide a cold caller with sensitive information. If you think the person calling is legitimate, ask to call them back on the number you have from previous correspondence or on their website. But use a different phone to do this as scammers will stay on the line so it can appear like you’ve called the new number. 

6. Don’t send money in response to an email or a text, even if the message is from someone you know well or a team member. You can check an email by double clicking the actual email address it came from and often it will be completely different one from the name it describes itself as.  However, even if it’s from a legitimate e-mail address, the scammer could have hacked into it to include their link.  Pick up the phone and call the person asking for money, just to confirm it is them. 

7. While most people will be working from home right now, once you do head out – use public Wi-Fi with extreme caution. It is extraordinarily easy for a criminal to set up Wi-Fi that appears to be legitimate. 

8. If you have employees, speak to them about the risks, so they know exactly what to look out for.  Advise them to be extra vigilant and educate yourself and others via research into current scams, by attending events, such as We Fight Fraud Live, or checking social media. 

9. Finally, pay someone to check your systems to ensure they are 100% secure.  The company that does this should be separate to your usual IT company, or in-house team.  as you want them to expose any vulnerabilities and your normal supplier won’t be incentivised to expose issues in their own systems.