National Association of Secretaries of State Hosts National Forum to Help States Protect Businesses from ID Fraud

ATLANTA, GA – Secretaries of State and senior state business division leaders from twenty states are meeting today in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of a collective effort to fight back against a new type of crime: business identity theft. The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Business Identity Theft Forum, which runs from October 17 to October 18 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, features expert panels designed to assist the officials who oversee state business records and filings with fraud-related awareness, detection and prevention efforts.

“Secretaries of State want to warn businesses, particularly small and mid-size business owners, that this type of crime can be financially devastating,” noted Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who serves as Co-Chair of the NASS Business Identity Theft Task Force and has seen more than 300 businesses in his state fall victim to identity thieves, with total losses exceeding $3.5 million. “Business identities are uniquely valuable, because they often have an established credit history that can be worth a lot of money to fraudsters.” 

In addition to Secretaries of State, the first-of-its-kind forum includes consumer advocates and representatives from federal, state and local government, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Secret Service/Electronic Crimes Task Force, Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection and the Georgia Technology Authority.

Event sponsors taking part in forum panels include DataStream Content Solutions, CT Corporation, Dun & Bradstreet, the Identity Theft Protection Association, INVISUS, Kaspersky Lab, Inc., LifeLock, NIC and Shred-It.

NASS will use participant input from the forum to develop a white paper aimed at helping states combat business identity theft. NASS will also work in collaboration with the national Identity Theft Protection Association to launch a new website that will assist victims of business identity theft crimes.

“Protecting the state-held information that offers a potential gateway to business identity theft is a critical component of our mission,” said North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who serves as Co-Chair of the NASS Business Identity Theft Task Force. “We are working with the business and financial communities to bring this crime to the forefront, harness new technology to develop cost-effective solutions, and ultimately, make it harder for identity thieves to prey upon state-based businesses.” 

A full NASS Business Identity Theft Forum agenda is available online at www.nass.org.

Founded in 1904, the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) is the oldest, nonpartisan professional organization of public officials in the United States. Members include the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa. On the Web: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Media contact: Kay Stimson 202.624.3528 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it