How to protect your business from fraud
Technology has revolutionized the way we do business. While technology allows us to be more efficient, it also means we must be more vigilant than ever in protecting our information.
At BDC, we are fully committed to safeguarding our clients' confidentialinformation. At the same time, it is important that you acknowledge the risk and take the appropriate steps to mitigate risk and ensure your information security.
Here's how to maximize your online security and privacy, and protect yourself from fraud:
Use effective passwords
- Use a long password—length outweighs complexity (minimum length eight characters; the more, the better).
- Use a combination of upper and lower case letters, and include at least one number and one special character (e.g., #, $, ?, !).
- Change your password regularly and use different passwords for different systems. Don’t use the same password twice.
- Keep your password to yourself. Don't write it down and don't send it by email or by text message (SMS).
- Don’t check the "remember my information" box on a public computer.
- Don’t use predictable information when setting your password (such as your name, your telephone number or your date of birth).
Protect your personal and financial information
- Keep documents containing your personal identification in a safe place.
- Shred invoices or credit card statements, and monitor your online financial activities to check for unauthorized transactions.
- Make sure electronic data is destroyed when you sell or dispose of computers, hard disks, DVDs or backup disks.
- Please notify us If you believe you have been a victim of identity theft related to BDC or following information exchanges with BDC.
Protect your computer
- Keep your operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, iOS, Blackberry, etc.) up-to-date to protect your computer, smartphone or tablet from online attacks.
- When bugs or errors are discovered, vendors release security patches to implement fixes. Conpicture your system to check for security patches and install them regularly.
- Regularly update your browser and any other software installed on your computer.
- Make sure to install and update antivirus software, as well as a firewall, to protect your computer from malicious software (viruses, worms and spyware).
- Download programs only from websites you trust, and carefully read all security warnings and privacy statements associated with all software that you install on your computer. This helps protect your computer from spyware—software installed on your computer without your knowledge to track and gather personal information, such as browsing history, account numbers, passwords or bank information.
Be cautious online
- Limit the amount of personal information that you share online or on social networks.
- Before accepting different "terms of use," read then carefully to determine how your information will be used and whether it will be shared with third parties.
- Never email personal or banking information.
Recognize suspicious emails and phone calls
- Fraudulent organizations routinely contact companies trying to obtain sensitive information, such as account details or passwords.
- Be suspicious of any request that has a sense of urgency.
- Verify the information in the messages that you receive by email or by phone before taking any action. Cross-reference the information with an independent source.
- If you receive an e-mail that appears to come from BDC asking you to immediately access your account via a hyperlink, do not reply to the message and do not click on the embedded hyperlink. Should such a situation occur, send the questionable message to info@bdc.ca (include your area code and telephone number if you want us to call you back) to notify us and to check whether the e-mail in question actually came from BDC.
BDC will never send you emails asking you to access web addresses to verify your personal or account information.
If you receive a suspicious call or email that appears to be associated with BDC, please write to us.