Worried About Identity Theft? Some Thoughts.......

As I’m sure mostly everyone is aware, Sony’s Playstation 3 on-line network and Qriocity streaming video and music service were hacked and were offline from April 20, 2012 to May 14, with all services restored by May 31, 2011.  According to Sony, as many as 77 million subscribers may have subject to privacy invasion, involving sensitive information including credit card numbers, security information, and purchase history.

According to a story published in the International Business Times, Sony has issued apologies for the breach and vowed to pay damages to affected users.

The problem this brings to light is how do today’s businesses protect themselves from these types of data breaches going forward? 

In today’s information age, the likelihood of future identity breaches is a constant threat.  There are identity protection services popping up all over the internet.  If you were to “Bing” identity theft companies, you’d get over 2.4 million results.  Google provides even more stunning results, more than 14 million companies providing the service!

But should the Consumer have to pay for this protection themselves?  Many people do….but is it necessary?  A little known fact is that the government passed an act called the “Red Flag Rules” as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act in 2003.  In summary, this Act requires financial institutions and creditors to provide for the identification, detection, and response to patterns, practices, or specific activities, known as Red flags, which could indicate identity theft.  These programs are required to be in place by November 2009.

According to Chris Heidkamp, VP of Channel Sales at Securus Identity Solutions, “While the Red Flag Compliance regulations don’t legally require any specific type of program be put in place, many corporations have neglected to implement any identity theft program because they felt the cost was prohibitive.  That is simply not the case any longer.”

According to Heidkamp, “programs can start as low as 15¢ per subscriber per month. This protection can provide the consumer the peace of mind they’re looking for in the event of a data breach like those seen at Sony and Epsilon.  Many of us have received the letters regarding the Epsilon breach, coming from merchants like Verizon, Hilton Hotels, Air Miles, Best Buy, Citigroup, and Walgreens.  This heartache can be avoided with the addition of a corporate identity protection program.”

It would seem it would be worth a phone call to your utility company or other monthly creditor to determine whether they have an identity program you can participate in.  Ask for the company’s position and business plan for “Red Flag Compliance” and you may just avoid the cost of a personal identity protection program.

If you would like any additional information on Red Flag Compliance, please contact me directly at @Dave Hanron or Mr. Heidkamp @ChrisHeidkamp on Twitter or Heidkamp@securus-solutions.com

Let's Talk Blogs

Let’s talk blogs today………

Years ago the idea of individuals publishing regular articles on the internet was crazy.  Today, the number of personal blogs is estimated to have exceeded 100 million.  WordPress alone has more than 47 million blogs and counting.  There are more than 300,000 new posts written per day and more than 250,000 comments generated.

There are some simple tips to starting and maintaining a successful blog.  First step is to select a hosting platform for your efforts.  Wordpress.com is a popular choice but there are many others to choose from.  Spend some time “Google-ing” free blogs hosts and you’ll find a vast selection to choose from.

Next, you need to decide on a topic niche.  You’ll want to stay pretty focused on a particular topic so you can engage your readers and develop a following.  It’s ok to stray once in a while if you have an issue of great interest.  I wrote one about Derek Jeter joining the Red Sox when the Yankees were have contract trouble with him last winter.

Here’s a tip I highly recommend you follow.  The blog host you choose will have an option for you to compose your post directly within their software.  Don’t even think about doing it this way. After learning the hard way, I now write my posts in Microsoft Word and then copy and paste into the blogging software.  You’ll understand why if you ever have lost your internet connection.  You lose all of your previous work and have to start all over.

Next, you have to be sure to keep your information relative and accurate.  Use links where possible to support your statements and try to use hyperlinks rather than shortened url’s.  It gives your posts a cleaner look.  You can find it under the insert menu in Microsoft Word. (another free tip……hyperlinks work great in emails too!)

Start distributing your blog posts to your close friends via email.  If they like your writings, ask them to share with their friends.  You’ll start building a distribution list which will grow as you become more active.

It is essential you use social media to advertise and promote your writings or it will be nearly impossible to grow your following and get the visibility you’re looking for. Post new entries on Facebook and Twitter.  There are also lots of free publishing sites you can use like Slashdot.com and yousaytoo.com

Follow these simple steps to get started on your blog and remember to have fun with it.  It can be an enjoyable pastime once you get started.  If you’re doing it for business purposes, remember to stay focused on your readers interests and don’t make your blog a constant sales pitch.  Delivering useful information is the key to developing a successful blog.

Let’s hear about your tips for a successful blog program and see if we can get some great ideas going forward…..

Business Growth Promoted Through Consumer Conversations

A lot of companies today have realized that their brand is an important thing to protect. They’ve developed SEO strategies to push their names higher on Google and Bing searches. Executives have come to realize they need to monitor and respond to the conversations taking place on line about their products. Some businesses have even taken to scrutinize the discussions taking place about their key employees.

But the one thing most firms have neglected to include in their social programs is perhaps the most important capability: sales lead generation.

Yes, social media programs can actually be tailored to produce high quality, readily available sales leads. The key questions here is “How could you possibly get real revenue producing leads from social media?”

Simple. A high quality social intelligence program goes much further than keeping an eye on Facebook and Twitter for people talking about your company. The provider will “listen” for the conversations taking place across all sources, including among others personal & business blogs, news media, consumer boards, and traditional ad campaigns. The key component of the program requires real human interaction at this point to streamline the conversations into useful data. Without the human factor, the program will produce so many “hits” that the information becomes muddled. An expert analyst will filter through the conversations and aggregate the relative discussions to present to your staff.

A key information topic many companies neglect is to follow their competition. By following your competitors closely, you'll be able to respond to new ads and products, react to changes in the market, and most importantly, find out who your competitors’ customers are. By following a competitor’s brand, you can listen for consumer sentiment on their offerings. Opportunity often develops when a consumer has been disappointed in their expectations for some reason.

As an example of what I’m referring to here, if a person is complaining on Facebook about their Kia (nothing personal here folks at Kia, just an example; it could be easily switched around the other way) being in the shop all the time, it would be a great time for a Chevrolet dealer to send some information to the consumer. Maybe a friendly post on their wall or a quick “tweet” on an upcoming sales event could generate a new customer.

By finding out your competitor is holding an event like a webinar or luncheon with a keynote speaker, it gives your marketing staff a chance to monitor the program and respond accordingly. If you look deep enough, it may even be possible to find an attendee list or program agenda. 

Acquiring new business and keeping satisfied clients are the long term keys to any successful business plan. We have emerged today into an information rich society with millions of people talking and tweeting and posting on a daily basis. It is imperative business don’t ignore the conversations and they must react accordingly. The only way you can react accordingly is to know what is being said.

I ‘d enjoy hearing how all of you are handling your on-line listening and what types of programs you’ve put in place to respond to what you’re hearing.

If you want some direction on launching your listening and reacting program, please contact me directly on Twitter @DaveHanron or via email at Dave@socialstrategy1.com