Pamphlet being offered on high tech crime

Friday, Dec. 26, 1997 | 7:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A new pamphlet has been published by the state to help business better protect itself against high tech crime.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Friday computer crime now costs American business up to $10 billion a year and by the year 2000 that figure could rise to as much as $200 billion.

Del Papa's office and the newly-formed state High Technology Crime Task Force combined in preparing the pamphlet which offers such tips as how to avoid having long distance phone calls charged to your business account and how to secure confidential client and customer information.

The task force, in cooperation with the University and Community College System of Nevada, plans a series of training seminars for business in February. The Nevada Small Business Development Center (784-1717) on the Reno university campus will be in charge of the seminars.

Del Papa said businesses that can offer expert advice or equipment to the Task Force can call either Anne Cathcart (687-4170) or Kevin Higgins (688-1818) in the attorney general's office.

Tips in the new publication include advising business to change computer passwords frequently and require employees to keep their passwords confidential. The publication also suggests traditional accounting controls should not be abandoned when an office is computerized.

Additional advice includes: Don't keep banking and other confidential data on the same computer on which the business has internet service and verify the identity of people representing themselves as phone company technicians or repair persons by calling the company.