Saving our businesses from the hackers
SOME people have built their entire business on social media and digital platforms. But when their account is shut down after being hacked, solving it can be a nightmare. Having someone else access and control their account is devastating for a business, and their reputation. The owners watch the financial and emotional damage occur in real time with no ability to stop it.
One of the absurdities of the situation is after being locked out of your account, you need to access your account to make a complaint. It’s the ultimate run-around.
Digital platforms have changed the way in which small businesses connect and sell to their customers. No longer is there a need to have a “bricks and mortar” shop. You can always be open to anyone anywhere in Australia or overseas.
But when there’s a problem, often there is no real person you can speak to. It’s unacceptable.
It is crucial that digital platform providers implement clear procedures to enable a swift resolution for small business disputes. Providing clear escalation points and dedicated contacts for dispute resolution agencies would mean small businesses can resume operating their businesses sooner.
Since July 2020, my office has taken on 236 cases related to digital platforms. Many involved a business owner being locked out of an account that has been compromised by a third party who posts content that breaches the digital platform’s policies and causes the account to be disabled.
This typically means a business loses access to their advertising, communication with customers, ability to provide posts about their services, and intellectual property.
When small businesses use the self-help options to no avail and turn to us for help, our contact with the digital platforms is generally constructive and most provide a direct human contact to enable these disputes to be satisfactorily in just a handful of days. However, they are not always consistent, and the need for a government body to step in to resolve every small business dispute is not the answer.
It should be the exception, with the platforms making self-help and internal problem-solving more effective.
What small businesses should do right now to minimise risk and protect their digital accounts is turn on multi-factor authentication, use secure strong passwords/passphrases and log-in alerts. And keep copies of digital account details and URLs in a safe place so if you are hacked you have that information handy.