{"id":25917,"date":"2022-06-16T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/?p=25917"},"modified":"2022-06-15T13:04:40","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T18:04:40","slug":"security-is-a-must-in-a-hybrid-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/practice-management\/security-is-a-must-in-a-hybrid-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Security Is a must In a hybrid environment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, I participated in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cpaconsultantsalliance.com\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CPA Consultants&#8217; Alliance<\/a> (CPACA) foru<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0CPACA \u201cis a working group of thought leaders united in their efforts to further leadership within the CPA profession,\u201d and consists of 15 of the industry\u2019s leading management consultants focused on improving the accounting profession.<\/p>\n<p>During the forum I led, I focused on technology updates that will be useful to CPAs and accountants alike.\u00a0Below are my key takeaways.<\/p>\n<h2>Security must be a priority<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/proconnect.intuit.com\/desktop-hosting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-25921\" src=\"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Hosting-square.png\" alt=\"Hosting square\" width=\"294\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Hosting-square.png 380w, https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Hosting-square.png?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Hosting-square.png?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" \/><\/a>Phishing, smishing (phishing via text message,) and social engineering attacks are getting more sophisticated every day. Between targeted attacks from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/blog\/tax-season-2022-taxpayer-authentication-irs-security-concerns-and-protecting-pii\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bad actors claiming to be IRS professionals<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/blog\/cybersecurity-war-ukraine-increases-likelihood-russian-cyber-attacks\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">increased potential for a Russian-led cyberattack<\/a>, how does anyone stay safe?<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Here are a few ways accounting firms can maintain security:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Require all firm employees to attend regular security training.<\/li>\n<li>Implement advanced identity management solutions, such as multi-factor authentication.<\/li>\n<li>Mandate password rules, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Passwords must be at least 12 characters.<\/li>\n<li>Passwords must never be reused.<\/li>\n<li>Use a password handler to securely store saved, unique passwords (For example: LastPass, Keeper, 1Password and Dashlane).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Does your accounting firm maintain its own server?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ask your IT team if they have sufficient resources to maintain their own server. In my experience, a vast majority of firms don\u2019t have enough resources to secure their own on-premises server.<\/p>\n<p>Mitigate risk by either:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Outsourcing and hiring a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/cloud-premier\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">professional managed security services provider<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/quickbooks-hosting\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moving your infrastructure to the cloud<\/a>, where enterprise-level security is already in place.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Hybrid work structure is permanent<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Hybrid work is here to stay.<\/strong>\u00a0Regardless of the type of work your firm personnel are responsible for, you must ensure that each of them has the tools they need to get their work done, whether they\u2019re in-office, at home, or on the road.<\/p>\n<p>What do accounting firm personnel need to securely work from anywhere?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Standardized equipment:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s easier to troubleshoot equipment issues when everyone uses the same equipment. Check out some of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/blog\/accounting-technology-and-trends-consumer-electronics-show-2022\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the best equipment accounting firms are using in 2022.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Digital data:<\/strong>\u00a0All data should be digital. What\u2019s non-digital data? Non-digital data isn\u2019t located on a computer or server. If you\u2019re still communicating data updates via hard copy, snail mail, or other means, it&#8217;s extremely unsafe and leaves your firm, your clients and your personnel open to risk. One theft or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/blog\/moving-to-cloud\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">flood could spell out the end of your business<\/a>, forever. So by default, all data should be digital. Digital collaboration must also be prioritized, so all personnel work equally effectively both with firm personnel and external clients.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consistent production processes:<\/strong>\u00a0Establish workflows and ensure all of your accounting firm employees use these production processes. This improves productivity and makes sure people are equally effective whether in the office, at home, or on the road.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The internet:<\/strong>\u00a0Educate your employees about the dangers of public Wi-Fi. When out and about, the safest way to connect to your accounting firm\u2019s resources is through your phone\u2019s hotspot. At home, make sure that your internet has solid bandwidth to quickly handle your work. Notably,\u00a0<strong>42% of CPA Firm Management survey respondents said that their firm provided them with a $30-$50\/month stipend to help offset the increased cost of Internet data plans<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The cloud:<\/strong>\u00a0Move everything over to the cloud and use a cloud-hosting provider to ensure that your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/blog\/build-backup-recovery-strategy\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cloud-hosting environment is secure and backed up<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Security is more important than ever in our hybrid work environment<\/h2>\n<p>My two main overarching themes for the presentation were the importance of accounting firm security and how hybrid work is here to stay.<\/p>\n<p>Put together, these two themes carry even more weight.<\/p>\n<p>Even when we were all in the office, accounting firms were at an increased risk of attack because of the information they maintain. They\u2014we\u2014are the cornerstone of the economy and hold our clients\u2019 most business-critical information in our digital grasps.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, we\u2019re everywhere. We\u2019re working at home, in the office and on the road\u2014so we must update our security procedures to fit. Hopefully, my overview taught you a thing or two about easy changes to implement at your firm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:<\/strong> This article was originally published by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightnetworks.com\/blog\/cpa-consultants-alliance-2-most-important-takeaways\/\"title=\"\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"false noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Right Networks<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get expert advice on security from Roman Kepczyk, CPA.CITP, CGMA, PAFM, and check out desktop hosting options for Intuit Lacerte\u00ae Tax and ProSeries\u00ae Tax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144649054,"featured_media":25926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rkv_reviewed_by_select":[],"rkv_browse_by_id":0,"rkv_cta_id":0,"rkv_optimize_for_pagespeed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"useModifiedDate":false,"customPublishDate":"","customModifiedDate":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[116807],"tags":[646041765],"intuit_collection":[],"intuit_series":[],"coauthors":[646041856],"class_list":["post-25917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practice-management","tag-hosting"],"header_image":"","yoast_head":"<!-- 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