Politeness is putting some people at risk of scams, with more than half (53%) of adults having remained on an unexpected phone call in the past year for longer than they wanted to, according to an anti-fraud body.
The Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, which commissioned a survey, found nearly a third (32%) of people said concerns about seeming rude would contribute to them feeling uncomfortable about halting a conversation.
Take Five’s campaign is warning people that fraudsters will try to exploit people’s politeness in order to keep conversations going, so they have a longer opportunity to build trust, apply pressure and influence people’s decisions.
Backed by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, the campaign is encouraging people to resist the instinct to always be polite.
He said: “People know I’m not afraid to tell it…
IT & DATA SECURITY (MITIGATING THE “INSIDER THREAT”)
As seen in the TD Bank case, an employee with too much “access” can sell your customer data to syndicates.
- Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): Employees should only have access to the specific folders and databases required for their current task.
- Access Revocation: Have a “Termination Checklist” that ensures all digital access (Email, VPN, Banking) is revoked within 60 minutes of an employee resigning or being dismissed.
- System Logs & Audit Trails: Enable “Read/Write Logging” on your server. If a customer’s data is leaked, you need to know exactly which login accessed that record and at what time.
- Encryption at Rest: Ensure that sensitive files (like your customer ID numbers or payroll spreadsheets) are encrypted so that if a staff member copies them to a USB, they cannot be read.