Solving Email Privacy Weaknesses Using Accounting Websites

Simply because email has become a heavily trafficked communication instrument over the years, it does not inevitably follow that email is protected. Numerous firms routinely broadcast tax documents, QuickBooks files, and equivalent privileged data by email, and this is a mistake. It puts their clients in danger of becoming victims of several crimes, above all identity theft. When sending an email you can never assume that it's protected. When you send an email to someone it doesn't go straight to it's destination. It passes through a dozen or more mail servers, and these mail servers are popular targets with hackers and malware. This arrangement makes email vulnerable to interception by what's called a "man in the middle" attack, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. These third party servers are completely outside of your control and have no accountability even if they are poorly or even incompetently maintained. Even well tended mail servers can play host to Trojans that will quietly forward your emails to a hacker, most likely by posting them to a website. All it takes is one hacked server along the way to intercept your email, and you'll never know what happened.

Encryption can make it harder to open an email or attachment, but it does nothing to prevent it from being intercepted.

Don't get me wrong, email is a very valuable tool for an accounting firm. It's unrivaled in speed, convenience, and expense. Email is the best possible solution for most of your needs. The problem only rears up when these firms email information that's considered confidential. If the wrong people get hold of them documents like tax returns can seriously harm a client. Because accounting firms prepare taxes they are considered financial institutions. This actually makes emailing private information a crime. The federal law governing the security of financial is called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This law provides stiff financial penalties for accounting firms and other financial institutions that fail to adequately protect their client's data.

It is important to understand the difference between security and privacy if firms are to comply with mandates about client data protection. Privacy is the shield that protects a person's identity while actively sharing information via the web. Where privacy is about keeping the door locked, security is about the lock itself. Security is the actual online authentication and authorization protocols that networks use to protect information and the audit system used to verify the overall system's effectiveness.

The best solution for this issue can be found in most commercially available CPA websites. Almost all the major CPA website providers offer secure document portals.

Portals provide a safe alternative for sending documents like tax returns, social security numbers, and financial statements. Portal transfers don't pass through multiple off site servers before reaching their destinations the way emails do. Instead the document is encrypted and sent straight from your server to your website's. This eliminates the chance of your file passing through any third party servers and keeps the chain of information accountable and under your immediate oversight.

At this point I should disclose something. I own a company that designs CPA websites and yes... that includes a portal system. That's how I make my living but don't mistake this as a crass sales pitch. I'm definitely not the only provider offering these things. All the best CPA websites contain a secure file transfer system. If your client realizes these risks before you alter your procedures there's a very high probability you'll lose him, so pick a portal, ANY portal, and USE it. Stop transmitting your clients confidential personal data by email right away.