Criminal Background Searches

Have You Been Phished Upon Lately? The Latest Twitter Security Breach.

Online security should never be taken lightly. From personal information to financial banking entry, phishers are out there, lurking in the darkness…just waiting to get a hold of your most important passwords and logins so they can gain access to your accounts. The most recent security breach seems to have taken place on Twitter today. CNN reported that phishers were sending emails to Twitter members so they would click on links to read a direct message from a fake person, thus requiring them to log in first to read their message. Unfortunately, the site that the email takes members to is not Twitter.

Who do these criminals think they are? Masquerading as a site you trust in order to gain your confidence and steal from you. This is why criminal background searches and employment screening were invented! In the world of data transfer, identity theft, and online fraud, the security of our personal and financial information has never been more sacred…or so easily compromised. Though Twitter is not the first, or last, site to experience being the target of a malicious phisher, there are things that people should be looking out for in order to help them avoid becoming the next phishing scam victim.

1.       According to the CNN story that broke today, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone stated that users should not only look at the site design but the Web address to where they have landed. Hackers are exquisite craftsmen, designing their phishing site to look exactly like the real thing. Be it your online banking site, credit card company, or social networking site, they are able to easily transform a blank Web page into what looks like the real thing.

2.       Look at the Web site address before proceeding to enter in your login information! The real site will have their company name right before the “.com” in the URL. The fake one will have it somewhere in the URL, but not in the right place (because it’s taking you to another site entirely).

3.       Change your password regularly! Twitter users should change their password today to eliminate access that they may have already inadvertently given the phishers from today’s incident. On a regular basis, Internet users should change their passwords every 30 days to best protect themselves…and don’t use the same password on every site. This is one of the best ways to change it up and keep your online accounts safe from hackers.

4.       When criminal background searches and employment screening are a regular part of your hiring process, be sure to also let your existing employees know about these dangers online. Since most companies allow the Internet to be accessed from workers’ computers, it’s important to set some guidelines to protect the company’s valuable information. In addition to having firewalls, anti-virus software, and other measures on the network, employees may need to be told what sites are or are not acceptable to visit (or employers can simply block them). If an employer doesn’t wish to restrict their employees, make sure they are warned about the signs of phishing scams so that the business’ infrastructure is not compromised.

Though employment screening and criminal background searches are the very best ways to protect your company from the threat of hiring an “employee from hell”, these online measures should also be taken to protect yourself and your employees from phishers, scammers, and fraudsters in the cyber world.