There are striking similarities between the roles and responsibilities of accountants and cyber security professionals, particularly in their need for accuracy, data protection and due diligence before adopting new technologies. Both work with sensitive information in highly regulated environments, making trust a cornerstone of customer relationships.

As digital landscapes evolve and cyber threats become more sophisticated, accounting professionals must prioritize solutions to combat this and expand their skill sets to include a competent understanding of cyber security. By learning and incorporating cybersecurity best practices into their firms, accountants can work to protect sensitive client information while enhancing their technology skills in an ever-growing digital world.

Here are five cybersecurity best practices that can help accountants increase and maintain client trust.

1. Evaluate and verify third-party vendors and technologies. One of the first steps toward developing a comprehensive understanding of potential cybersecurity risks is evaluating your technology vendors—both those your firm already works with and those you’re considering for future work. Their cybersecurity practices have a direct impact on your business, regardless of how secure your own systems are.

Find out if the vendors you work with have clear plans to not only protect against cybersecurity threats, but also to quickly fix any issues that arise. Additionally, if your business works with multiple vendors and uses multiple platforms, determine how well they work together to ensure adequate coverage.

2. Adopt a security-oriented approach as part of the company culture. Accounting firms handle large amounts of financial information for their clients, and this makes them a prime target for cybercriminals.

Although cyber security is not the primary responsibility of the accountant, it is important that all employees of the firm take an active role in remaining vigilant and knowing how to identify potential security threats. Phishing attacks remain one of the most common methods of cyber security intrusion because these attacks rely on human error – the area that is most vulnerable to a security failure.

3. Quickly and comprehensively address human error. We are all human and we all make mistakes. Therefore, human error is still one of the most common ways cybercriminals bypass security protocols and gain access to protected information. Accounting firms must ensure that all employees are aware of the latest cyber security protocols, and this information should be updated regularly.

Some common steps that can be taken include:

• Host company-wide trainings to educate employees on cybersecurity best practices.
• Limiting employee access to certain data and requiring different permission levels to keep data secure.
• Adding multiple layers of security—such as multifactor authentication or physical access keys—to make it harder for bad actors to gain access to sensitive information.

4. Prioritize process automation and security integration. Having a dedicated security team that provides regular updates to employees and manages any emerging threats is critical to protecting internal and customer data.

An in-house security team is ideal because they will know first-hand – and in greater detail – what needs to be protected and what controls to implement, but for smaller accountancy firms, a virtual information security officer can be just as competent to verify, implement and maintaining and implementing cyber security solutions. Leaders will need to consider what makes the most sense for their company, including whether or not workers are remote, in-office or working in a hybrid capacity.

Once a solution is identified and implemented, prioritize a comprehensive onboarding process to make these new processes and procedures as effective and efficient as possible.

5. Develop and implement risk management plans. As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, it will be necessary to maintain an understanding of where improvements can be made and where risks can be inadvertently introduced. The key to risk management is to proactively think about gaps and risk vectors. In some cases, this may require investment in new solutions if legacy systems cannot keep up with the necessary improvements. While this may sound expensive, it is certainly less than the costs – both monetary and reputation—of a data breach.

For businesses looking to upgrade or overhaul their technology stacks, this provides an opportunity to consolidate disparate systems into fewer cross-functional solutions. This type of consolidation aids cybersecurity efforts by reducing the number of different locations where data is stored—thus reducing the number of locations where an intrusion could occur.

Conclusion

While learning and implementing cybersecurity can sometimes be challenging, accountants should remember that they don’t have to do it alone. Cyber ​​security professionals and trusted partners are there to help, whether it’s implementing new systems or dealing with a potential hack. Taking a proactive approach to cyber security is consistent with what it means to be an accountant – a trusted advisor and steward of sensitive client data.