In a previous Rules of Thumb post we discussed how keeping your clients' data safe is not just a courtesy, it is the law. So you as an accountant are responsible for making sure your clients' data is as safe as possible.

The top accounting firm's cybersecurity risks

Client Risk

Accounting firms must guarantee the safety of the information that clients entrust to their care. From Social Security numbers to financials, accounting firms hold some of the most important information for individuals and businesses. If firms cannot keep this information protected, the consequences are significant. Accounting firms have a duty to protect this information at all costs.

Financial Risk

The financial consequences of a cyberattack are considerable. According to the 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach in the United States is $8.6 million. Customer personally identifiable information (PII) has an average cost of $150 per record per breach. And it takes a while for most breaches to be detected – an average of 280 days.

Ease of Hacking

While nation-states and organized criminal enterprises are at the heart of many cyberattacks, hacking that completely disrupts your firm can be the work of an amateur. With very little training and sophistication, a hacker can disrupt your business and be very costly.

Reputational Loss

If your accounting firm is exposed to an attack, the losses are far more than financial. There is a major reputational risk. Affected customers are likely to talk. Some cases will reach the news media. Recovering some reputational losses can be difficult and as costly as the financial losses incurred due to a cyberattack.

If you and your accounting firm would like more help with cybersecurity issues, download this free whitepaper from Right Networks, Flirting with Disaster: How CPA firms Can Find the Security Help they Desperately Need.

Below is a description of what you will learn from this free whitepaper on cybersecurity for your accounting firm:

What’s worse? A ransomware attack is only one type of cyber threat. Compounded with phishing attempts, lurking Trojans, advanced persistent threats (ATP) that often go unnoticed for months...it’s almost unfathomable how often users are threatened.

The “it won’t happen to me” statement is false—it is already happening to you. And it’s happening to everyone you work with.

So, what are you going to do about it?

Start by downloading Flirting With Disaster: How Accounting Firms Can Find the Security Help They Desperately Need for information about immediately bolstering your security policies.

Then, keep reading to learn:

• If your current security measures are enough to protect your firm from data breaches
• Why trying to manage security in-house—especially at small firms—is bad (very bad)
• How to immediately safeguard the client data that software, apps, and hardware contain

Accountants MUST have the best cybersecurity strongholds since you handle so much delicate financial information of clients. Hackers are getting smarter as time goes on, so hopefully, this blog post from the Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb will prevent you from being attacked by ransomware and other types of hacking.

The team at MoneyThumb would like to add one more important step for CPAs and accountants to make sure your clients' financial information stays safe, and that is using the best PDF financial file converters on the market. We use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology which is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure commerce transactions. It encrypts all of your personal information including credit card number, name, and address, to prevent it from being read as it travels over the Internet.

The post Why Cyber Security is So Important, Especially For Accountants appeared first on MoneyThumb.

Fortunately, the vast majority of attacks can be prevented with a few simple measures such as using strong passwords, encrypting files, guarding account access and being cautious with email. However, as you probably well know, there are other steps that need to be taken to ensure that your clients' information does not land in the hands of cybercriminals.

The Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb would like to share today this great free guide presented by Accounting Web and Smart Vault. This invaluable guide doesn't just tell you what the threats are but lays out a three-step plan for any practice to defeat the hackers and cyber thieves.

Inside the free guide you will find the following helpful information:

• How to spot new kinds of cyber threats (what is an SQL Injection or a Man-in-the-Middle attack?)
• Actionable strategies based on real-life incidents of hacks
• A practical walkthrough for handling phishing attempts
• Essential (and simple) steps you can implement quickly

In addition, MoneyThumb would like to offer you the following steps you can take as an accountant to prevent cyber attacks and protect client information:

Tips For Safeguarding Client Information

While it’s impossible to completely prevent data breaches, the following proactive steps can help protect your accounting firm – and your clients – from hackers:

• Create a security plan. Your plan should establish security requirements for accessing and using client data, including computer systems and paper records. Establish a process for regular review of your plan to make sure it addresses the latest risks. Hackers are continually updating their methods and becoming more sophisticated, so your security plan from last year is probably already outdated.
• Ensure your systems are secure. All sensitive data should be stored on secure servers and backed-up regularly. Access to this data should only be granted on a need to know basis. In addition, all data sent via email or transmitted over your network should be encrypted. Simple steps like installing software updates and keeping your virus protection up-to-date can also go a long way towards protecting your data.
• Have – and enforce – a password policy. Passwords remain an essential way to protect your organization. Mandate strong passwords, require that they are updated periodically, and prohibit the sharing of passwords. While many companies have these kinds of policies, they fail to enforce them. Don’t make that mistake.
• Train your employees. Human error is at the root of almost half of cyber-attacks. Regularly train your staff, so they understand the risks, the tactics hackers user (such as sending infected attachments and links via email), and any changes to your security policies. This will help ensure compliance and mitigate the risk of staff mistakes.
• Have a data breach response plan. Your plan should detail the steps you will take should a breach occur, including contacting law enforcement, notifying your clients, and any other notifications required by state and federal law.
• Ask for help. IT consultants and security consulting firms specialize in cybersecurity, so you don’t have to. As hackers become more adept, it’s harder and harder for businesses to keep up. Working with professionals to protect yourself is worth the investment if it saves you the hit your resources – and your reputation – will take should a breach occur.

MoneyThumb is confident that by downloading the free guide we have shared above and following the steps we have laid out here, you can protect client information and avoiding cyber attacks.

The post Accountants and Bookkeepers Especially Need Cybersecurity appeared first on MoneyThumb.