In terms of responsibility, accounting is like healthcare: not only does a business have to provide its clients with the best service possible but also to ensure the safety of their personal data. Financial information – just like medical – is a key to a person’s life. That’s what makes it a prime target for hackers.
However, it can be hard for accounting professionals to take every necessary precaution against data theft – especially if they work in a small firm that cannot afford permanent cybersecurity stuff. Luckily, there are several ways in which you can protect your customers’ data on your own.
Encrypt Everything Important
Encryption Algorithms
Every piece of information transferred over the internet is a potential threat as it can be intercepted by criminals. Encryption is a good way to mitigate the risk.
When the data is encrypted, stealing it is not going to help any hacker because they will then need to decipher it – which is, if it’s encrypted properly, next to impossible to do.
There are numerous software solutions that allow one to encrypt their communication over the Web. However, you should expect that some research will be necessary because as, for example, this Ivacy VPN review shows, there are often issues with the app performance on various platforms. So, if your business runs primarily on MacBook computers, it makes sense to search for software that has no confirmed issues on Mac.
Back-up Data Regularly
One of the most dangerous cyber threats is ransomware. Its name is quite indicative of what it is: malicious applications that take control of infected computers and demand ransom for unblocking them. Unfortunately, it is very hard to trace the money if such a demand is satisfied because it is usually sent in the form of cryptocurrencies. That means that in most cases, the perpetrators walk unscathed and can repeat the attack on a different company.
It’s important to note that ransomware attacks do not steal information but encipher it and make it inaccessible to its proper owners.
The statistics, according to the FBI Internet Crime Reports, are not very optimistic: the loss caused by ransomware soared in 2019 and this trend is expected to continue in the future.
Ransomeware-growth-chart
Alas, there is no reliable way, currently, to make one’s business 100% ransomware-proof. What you can do, though, is ensure that if such an attack affects you, your clients’ data will remain accessible to you.
Keep backups of it and update them regularly – preferably, at the end of each business day. Store these backups on devices that are not connected to the internet so that ransomware cannot find its way to them.
Having backups will allow you to quickly provide service to your clients even in the case of an attack because you will still have access to their data.
Raise Employees’ Cybersecurity Awareness
Though the old adage of humans being the weakest link in cybersecurity may not be fully accurate, human mistake still does account for many data breaches and other attacks. Therefore, it is a good idea to tackle this problem.
A lot of cyber-attacks on businesses are successful because of an employee opening an email attachment that comes from an untrustworthy source or following a link to a dubious website. Why do workers fall to this type of scam repeatedly? This is the question we should answer to prevent it in the future.
Often enough, criminals get to their goal by pretending to have certain authority over their target. For example, it can be an email from an address extremely similar to that of the person’s boss. If such a fake email tells the employee to follow a link and install an app on their computer, chances are, they will.
That’s why you should give your employees a clear idea of what you can and what you cannot demand of them via email without any personal confirmation. In bigger companies, it may be hard to communicate in person every time, but it is better than dealing with the consequences of a cyber-attack later.
About the Author:
Sam Chester, Co-founder of Cooltechzone.com, a website dedicated to online privacy.
Sam_Chester_Contributor
Sam Chester is a co-founder of Cool Tech Zone, a website dedicated to online privacy. He is a cybersecurity assistant in antivirus software development, censorship fighter, and just a fan of everything related to cybersecurity and technology. His area of expertise includes data security and analytics, software, and Internet censorship. He is also a staunch supporter of limiting the role of government agencies in the lives of the citizens.
On cooltechzone.com, he covers the main threats that Internet users face nowadays. He gives practical tips on how to protect sensitive data on the Internet and not to become a victim of a witty hacker or malefactor. Together with his brother, Sam is struggling for the internet that is open, globally connected, trustworthy, secure and available to everyone.