Net Gain: Playing It Safe

"Hi, this is Heather from Charity A. I’m calling because last night our offices were broken into, and we’re convening a special board meeting to address a very serious concern.

“Our computers were stolen. All of our donor information, including constituents’ credit and bank card numbers, was in our database and on the hard drives. We’ve contacted the bank to ask how to proceed under the new laws, but we still need to alert our donors. We also want to discuss the possible fall-out we could experience from supporters, and future reluctance to donate to our organization. Can you be at our offices in an hour?”

Although this story is fictional, the threat is real. Identity-theft criminals are targeting not only large for-profit businesses, but also unsuspecting smaller businesses and nonprofit organizations.