What is the most important part of your business?
You may have (not) guessed it…
Your laptop…
If someone steals your laptop, they can easily sell it to cyber-criminals who can easily get into it. After all, once you get by the password (which is easy for them), you are already signed in to all the really sensitive places. Even if you don’t use a laptop, I know of businesses that were broken into, and had their desktop computers stolen as well.
This may require you to report the potential breach to the government and your clients (as you don’t want to wait for your client to tell you about your own breach!).
That’s why the various compliance requirements tell you to encrypt your actual laptop. This can make it extremely difficult/impossible for the bad guys to get into your computer.
There are many options for this with various security and compliance points to consider. What’s recommended is to use a super-strong password for your laptop and use what’s called “full-disk, software-based encryption.”
Some options allow you to encrypt only the ‘used space – what’s already on the computer, but not the empty space on the hard drive. This may help with a brand new computer, however, if the computer had files that were previously deleted, this space wasn’t encrypted and can still be recovered by someone who steals the computer.
If you are an accountant, this is just one vital security and compliance tip that should be covered in your required Risk Assessment and Cybersecurity Plan. Consulting with experts like Securex, who have experience assessing risks and making plans for accountants, can help you cover all the bases.
Notice and Disclaimer: The information provided by Securex LLC is for educational purposes only. Securex LLC is not a law firm nor lawyers, nor attorneys and is not providing attorney services or legal advice in any of the information or services that it provides. Securex LLC disclaims any-and-all potential liability on its part arising pursuant to the information it provides and pursuant to any use, misuse, or inability to use the information it provides.
