By Aubri Taylor
As the Internet expands and the world becomes more reliant on technology, it is inevitable that the thieves of the world will migrate online as well. The media is overflowing with reports of identity theft, firewall hacking, stolen passwords; the list goes on and on. If keeping applicants’ information secure on top of that seems totally overwhelming (and it probably does), the software we offer for your background checks is more tightly-secured than a locked file cabinet in your own office. With password-controlled access, IP restrictions, SSL encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection, filtering routers, and a physical server protected by biometric scans, it seems silly to think about writing an SSN down on a piece of paper and putting it in a file. Your background checks and applicant files are protected, indexed, and can be accessed at any time; the great age of information certainly does have its advantages.
Of course, we can’t cover all of your bases for you. Just as keeping an SSN in a paper file should seem silly, so does keeping your password on a Post-It! Educate your employees on choosing passwords that won’t be guessed easily. Our password requirements dictate at least eight characters, one letter and one number; you’d be surprised how often “password1” shows up. Be original! Use symbols, random capitalized letters, switch digits for letters, mix it up! You are required to change your password every three months, so you may want to make it something you can remember fairly easily, but changing “password1” to “password2” is not in your best interest. Help us keep you safe by keeping it unique and keeping your users educated on the importance, and the sensitivity, of the information we are guarding on your behalf. Don’t forget to log out of the system when finished, and if you must keep a paper or electronic copy of a report stored locally, please guard it as carefully as you can to avoid unauthorized distribution or disclosure of applicants’ personal identifiers. As your background check provider, we care about keeping you in the clear.
