CSIdentity SAFE

Great employees are hard to find, but without the right employee background screening process, deceitful candidates are even harder to spot. Hiring dishonest employees puts your sensitive and confidential business information at risk and could cost you millions if stolen or damaged.

According to The Ponemon Institute, an independent research foundation, the average cost of data breach to a victim corporation is $6.75 million. In 2008, the lowest reported cost of data breach was $613,000, while the highest was just under $32 million. Given that the average cost per stolen record is $202, one missing laptop with 2,500 customer or employee records on it would come with a data breach recovery bill for a half a million dollars. And that doesn’t factor in loss of stock value, brand damage or customer defection that results from having your breach in the news.

Insider theft, where one of your employees facilitates the breach, is a common source of this crime. And your risk doesn’t go away when your employees do. Over 60% of  employees keep sensitive data after they have been terminated and nearly 80% of them stated that they knew it was against company policy. This includes everything from email lists and customer information to financial business information.

The incidents of insider theft can be easily reduced by applying proper employee background check techniques. My business is a great example of how effective background checks can be. I hired a business partner without performing even the simplest of verifications. That partner proceeded to use my identity to steal $300,000 from our customers. I would have seen his criminal tendencies had I just invested a few dollars in screening him properly.

Each year nearly 2 million applicants use false or stolen credentials and get hired.  The Background Screening tool that I use to screen employees for my business is CSIdentity SAFE . Here’s what it does:

• It validates the applicant’s true identity so that you know the background check record belongs to the person sitting in front of you.
• It detects if the name or other personal data has been falsified
• It determines whether the applicant has a criminal history under any assumed names or aliases
• It conducts in-depth screening searches including criminal, driving, employment, licensing and education verification & more
• It allows you to order, track and receive drug screening results online in 15 minutes
• It lowers your data liability by making background checks available only to certain employees
• It provides continuous monitoring of your employees record in case they commit a crime while on staff

In other words, SAFE gives you the tools to re-take control of the screening process so that you are notified of negative employee data even if they choose to hide it from you. Even after the employee has been hired CSIdentity SAFE continues to monitor their criminal record and will send you updates of any changes.

An employee background check is a step that most employers skip, but if done right it could save your company millions on potential data breach. Looking back on my personal situation, it was an expensive and painful mistake that could have been quickly and easily prevented.

John Sileo provides identity theft training to human resource departments and organizations around the country. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by [intlink id=”15″ type=”page” anchor=”Contact John Sileo”]email[/intlink] or on 800.258.8076.