All the training in the world and all of the information on how to do a background check won’t protect your business. The government does background checks and they don’t work. As you may recall the Office of Personnel Management had a major security breach in June, affecting 14 million individuals who hold security clearances. A recent Business Insider Article titled “The US agency plundered by Chinese hackers made one of the dumbest security moves possible” covers some of the major issues that led to the breach of information.

The article points out some “common sense” security practices, such as basic data encryption, that were overlooked by OPM. But encryption was not the biggest failure…not doing any due diligence on the service provider is what ultimately brought about the security breach. Did they do a background check? Most likely. Did they fully vet the people, definitely no.

The article highlights “that a systems administrator responsible for handling the agency’s records “was in Argentina and his co-worker was physically located in the

[People’s Republic of China].” Source: Business Insider. In the world of national security, knowing who you’re actually contracting with is a pretty big deal. In this case it appears that due diligence was completely overlooked.

The fact that OPM used a foreign based service provider is not the issue. Had OPM implemented the first step of the due diligence process, critical thinking, then they would have known what questions they should have asked prior to hiring any service provider.

This is true in the business world as well. Often times business owners identify they have a need and then hire a service provider based on price, location or convenience. This OPM incident highlights just how important due diligence is as part of your business.

Often times incidents like this get written off as government oversight, but to put it in business term this cost a ton of money, time and intellectual property. The worst part is OPM could’ve prevented this entire mess had they done their due diligence before bringing on a service provider.

Bottom line, due diligence is inexpensive compared to what it can cost if you don’t implement a process for your business. In the case of OPM it cost the private, sensitive data of 14million people (not to include all the expenses that will come from cleaning up the mess). In business it can cost you time, money, your intellectual property or your entire business.

The good news is you can protect yourself and move forward with confidence. By implementing a due diligence process for your business, you keep yourself protected. Contact us today for a free consult and learn how you can start protecting your business today.