What do sensitive information, such as client data, financial records, and confidential business information have in common? The risk of cyber-attack. We don’t mean to be alarmist, but a single breach can have severe consequences. In addition to the assets at risk above, accounting firms that suffer a cyber-attack can suffer their own financial losses, damage to their reputations, and legal liabilities.
To be more specific, bad actors target accounting firms to steal sensitive financial information and to plant malware that encrypts files. That lets the bad actors demand payment (ransomware) in exchange for decryption, disrupting your business operations and causing financial loss. Scammers also use email and social engineering tactics to trick your employees into revealing sensitive information and/or installing malware. Even the people who have authorized access to sensitive information can compromise security, however unwittingly and innocently.
Financial and reputational damage can be caused when cyber criminals sell data on the dark web, undermining your finances and your industry standing without your awareness … until you start to lose clients and revenue. In addition to the financial assets that are stolen from you, it’s possible you’ll face legal liabilities, including fines and penalties, for failing to protect the data entrusted to you. Beyond that, you may also face non-compliance penalties for failing to uphold regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS.
What Can You Do?
Here are some ways to safeguard your firm from cyber-attacks:
First, you can and should educate your people on cybersecurity protocols and practices, with emphasis on the dangers of phishing and social engineering tactics. Second, encrypt all your sensitive data, whether it’s residing in your IT environment or being sent to a client or a third party. Third, be sure to implement firewalls and antivirus software to detect and prevent breaches and malware infestations. And you should update your software and your operating systems early and often to patch and preclude vulnerabilities. Fourth, develop, test, and document an incident response plan. To coin a phrase, a penny of prevention is worth a very expensive cure.
Finally, perhaps the most important thing you can do is call us. Cybersecurity and managed IT services are what we do. If you’re looking to optimize and secure your networked environment, we’re ready to help with our team of certified experts.