Fighting fraud

COEUR d'ALENE - In 2013, there were 619 data breaches in America that put the information of more than 50 million people at risk.

With that in mind, Panhandle State Bank hosted a discussion on identity theft and fraud on Wednesday night at its Coeur d'Alene location.

"There are a lot of risks out there," Rob Stevenson, fraud officer, said. "But with the right management of those risks you can be secure."

Ryan Petrik, a business services manager at the bank, began the discussion by defining a data breach as an "intentional or unintentional release of secure information to an untrusted environment."

The types of information exposed from a data breach can be anything from a name and email address to credit card and Social Security numbers.

"And when you start putting those pieces of information together, things can get scary," Scott Proost, IT director, said.

A common method used by criminals to get information is sending emails posing as a reputable retailer or bank. This method is called "phishing" and Proost said there are several ways to detect such an email.

"Always look for poor grammar and a sense of urgency in the emails," Proost said. "And if you get an email you aren't sure of, call the institution that supposedly sent it."

Petrik then gave attendees a series of action steps to take to better secure their information, the most important of which was being diligent with your information. Consistently checking your bank accounts and even changing your passwords regularly, according to Petrik, can make all the difference.