12 Security Tips to Keep your CPA & Accounting Firm Secure

More and more companies are relying on outsourced service providers rather of employing full-time employees. One of the most frequently outsourced business services is accounting. A business’s data must be secured from both internal faults and external threats in order to be successful.

Now the question that comes forward is why. “Why does Accounting Security holds such a high importance?” Let us explain it to you with some statistics to show the severity of the problem.

• A Clark School study at the University of Maryland is one of the first to quantify the near-constant rate of hacker attacks of computers with Internet access
• Every 39 seconds on average, affecting one in three Americans every year
• And, the non-secure usernames and passwords we use that give attackers more chance of success.

• As per World Backup Day, 1 in 10 computers are infected with viruses each month.

Malware Spread:

SonicWALL recorded 2.8 billion malware hits in the United States in 2020 — nearly nine times the next-highest ranked (U.K., with 322 million.)

In the Mid-Year Update to last year’s SonicWALL Cyber Threat Report, it was noted a 20% year-over-year jump in ransomware.

That 20% increase turned into a 40% increase by Quarter3. But with past years showing a drop-off toward the end of the year, there was still room for some (very cautious) optimism that things might yet turn around.

Unfortunately, they never did, and 2020 ended with ransomware up a staggering 62% worldwide.

What is an Intrusion Attempt?

An intrusion attempt is a security event in which an intruder, hacker, cybercriminal or threat actor attempts to gain access to a system or resource without authorization.

Now that we know the severity of the issue let us help you with prevention and control security methodologies.

Here are our Top 12 security tips for CPA firms and Accounting firms to keep your company – and your clients – protected.