October is Cyber Security Awareness Month – as a tax professional, clients trust you with their personal and business information and expect you to protect it like it’s your own.
Safeguarding client data and business systems is critical and needs to be part of your practice’s cyber safe culture. Staying cyber safe doesn’t require technical expertise – just good habits, the right tools, and a commitment to ongoing education.
Not sure what to do? Start by talking to your clients about how they can protect their personal information by:
- setting up myID – it’s their digital armour when accessing ATO online services through myGov. They should set it to the highest identity strength possible; the higher the strength, the more protected they are
- downloading the ATO app – manage tax and super easily while receiving real-time alerts when changes are made to their account. If something doesn’t look right, they can lock the account instantly and follow the prompts to secure it.
To help prevent cyberattacks on your practice, implement these habits:
- keep your devices updated – install software updates regularly to stay protected against the latest threats
- use strong, unique passphrases – combine 4 or more random words such as 'ocean lamp tiger cloud' and add special characters or numbers for extra strength. Avoid quotes, personal details or predictable phrases
- turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) – it adds an extra layer of protection by requiring 2 or more forms of ID – e.g. passphrase and biometrics.
We've released a new Cybersecurity moduleExternal Link within the Essentials to strengthen your small businessExternal Link online learning site. This module is designed to help you, and your clients implement practical cyber security measures. It's free to use and designed to be shared with your clients.
To learn more about protecting your business and clients visit Top cyber security tips for business.