Small businesses dodging hackers

It’s a chilling moment when a small business owner discovers hackers have stolen thousands of dollars from the company checking account.

The FBI reported in August that more than 7,000 U.S. companies of all sizes had been victimized in emailed attacks alone since late 2013, with losses of more than $740 million. The government said the number of identified victims had surged 270 percent between January and August of last year.

And businesses don’t have the same legal protection from bank account fraud consumers have.

The Electronic Funds Transfer Act, passed in 1978, was intended to protect individual consumers from bank account theft, but makes no mention of businesses. Whether a business is protected depends on the agreement it signs with a bank, said Doug Johnson, a senior vice president with the American Bankers Association, an industry group. If the business hasn’t complied with security measures required by the agreement, it could be liable for the stolen money, he said. For the full article click here 

from hacker samurai http://ift.tt/1pqaSrX
via IFTTT