As a bookkeeper for a small to midsized business, you are handling a lot of confidential financial data that can be compromised if you don’t practice good cybersecurity.  While securing your information may seem straightforward, potential hackers are able to see through loopholes that you may not notice.  Here are a few things you need to be doing to ensure secure bookkeeping.

Be informed, and keep your team informed.  In a lot of instances, cybercrimes happen because a naïve bookkeeper falls for a scam and opens the gateway to access their company’s financial data.  Cybercriminals know how to manipulate their victims and take advantage of complex technological resources to get what they want.  Take advantage of one of many online cybersecurity courses to keep yourself and your team informed on the latest tricks cybercriminals are using to compromise your important data.

Use strong passwords and multifactor authentication.  Too many bookkeepers will use easy-to-guess passwords, such as “password” or “1234,” to protect their work.  Cybercriminals know this, and setting a basic password like the above examples sets up an opportunity for them to access your information with little effort.  Strong passwords, such as a short sentence with a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, give you an advantage against cybercriminals.  Multifactor authentication not only stops the cybercriminal if they manage to guess your password, but it also will alert you of an attempted cyberattack so you can take action.

Get insurance.  Cybersecurity insurance exists to help your business manage its financial losses and get back on its feet in the event of an invasion.  While taking steps to prevent a cybercrime from occurring is best, sometimes criminals are savvy enough to see through your efforts.  If the worst does happen, a good policy will help protect your business from further damage and compensate third parties that are also affected by the breach.

While cybercrimes are very real and very alarming, taking the right precautions can keep your business from becoming a statistic.  A certified CPA firm like Frank W. Kapitza & Associates can also help you.  Contact us today to get started on your secure bookkeeping practices.