Tax Practitioner’s Guide to Managing Cybersecurity Risk

Description

Helping the accounting profession understand Cybersecurity risks

As quickly as cybersecurity practices mature, new threats, threat delivery vectors, and other schemes arise. What many people don’t realize is that identity theft is a lucrative business. Whether taxpayer identification (e.g., social security numbers), bank account information, credit card information, or healthcare information—these records have value on the dark web. Fraudsters will pay handsomely for this type of information.

As tax practitioners you have a duty to protect your clients’ information. Litigation abounds when there is a data breach, and the level of disruption from a ransomware attack can also be crippling for a small firm. It will take all of us…the IRS, state and local tax authorities, financial institutions, cybersecurity professionals, cybersecurity software vendors, IT professionals, and most of all, all of you—tax practitioners—to stop these cybercriminals. Together we can make it as difficult as possible for these criminals to get taxpayer information—giving peace of mind to our clients that they are protected when they do business with us.

In This Report You Will Learn About:

• Understanding the Cost of a Data Breach
• Tax Practitioner Cybersecurity Requirements
• What the IRS and FTC Expect of Tax Practitioners
• Going Beyond the “Security Six”: Addressing Compliance with IRS Publication 4557: Safeguarding Taxpayer Data
• Revised FTC Safeguards Rules (GLBA)
• Cybersecurity Solutions for Small Firms
• Your Cybersecurity Action Plan

Original publish date: May 2023