Earlier in the fable, during the summer season, the Grasshopper had an encounter with an Ant who was working to store food in his nest. “Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”
The Ant replied, “I am helping to lay up food for the winter and recommend you to do the same.” Foolishly, the Grasshopper ignored this sage advice.
When it comes to cybersecurity, as a CPA and financial professional who is trusted with highly confidential and sensitive information about your clients, you most certainly do not want to be a grasshopper.
In your role as an accountant and business consultant, you need to be prepared by being at the forefront of cybersecurity to safeguard the sensitive personal and corporate financial data that you handle.
Cybersecurity isn’t simply about IT keeping company computers safe from pesky software bugs and viruses. Cybercrime includes a variety of technology-related threats, such as:
The list of cyberthreats is constantly growing. In 2018, total global attacks increased a whopping 62% at 210 million. Additionally, 49% of global business leaders anticipate some form of cyberattack upon their organization in the near future.1
Your data is a valuable commodity—and it must be a priority for you and all who work at your CPA practice to protect it vigilantly. Ultimately, cybersecurity IS business security. In today’s business world, a breach can mean substantial loss of revenue, clients, customers, and reputation.
Like the ant trying to help, CPAs have an opportunity in this age of cybercrime to evolve their role as a trusted advisor and offer services to help clients manage and understand cyber risks.
Organizations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are managing cybersecurity threats, and that they have effective processes and controls in place to detect, respond to, mitigate and recover from breaches and other security events.2
The AICPA recognizes this increasing need and established a framework of System and Organization Controls (SOC) for Cybersecurity engagement, through which a CPA provides assurance regarding a company’s cybersecurity program to board members, senior executives and external stakeholders.3
CPAs should educate themselves regarding cyber risks and proactively discuss them with their clients. The AICPA SOC framework enables organizations to take a proactive and agile approach to cybersecurity risk management to communicate those activities with stakeholders.4
Here at CTI, we understand and appreciate the trust that our clients have placed in us as stewards of their sensitive personal and corporate data. Security is a #1 priority for the state-of-the art proprietary software we develop, and the highly secure data and document transfer environment we provide.
And to back up those security claims, CTI maintains an ISO 27001 certification for information security management, and a Better Business Bureau Accreditation that includes compliance with safeguard privacy standards for data collection.
It’s no fairy tale…you can rely on CTI to protect your data while helping to power the success of your business.
1. Cyber-attack is now a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ for UK CEOs, KPMG, 2018
2,4. SOC for Cybersecurity, AICPA
3. A Cybersecurity Call to Action – 6 Pitfalls for CPAs to Avoid with Clients, CPA Practice Advisor, Feb 2018