Data security

The Internal Revenue Service, working in partnership with state tax authorities and the tax preparation industry as part of their Security Summit initiative, reported significant progress Tuesday in the battle against tax-related identity theft, with new steps planned for next tax season.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will be looking out for some major risk areas at audit firms in the months ahead.

The Internal Revenue Service has suspended its $7.25 million contract with Equifax after the company admitted to finding a malware link on its website on the heels of a data breach that exposed the personal information of approximately 146 million people in the U.S.

PMB Helin Donovan’s Houston offices (and Atlanta-based data) emerged from hurricane season unscathed, due to a decision made three years ago to move to a cloud-hosted environment.

Accountants are to hackers as honey is to bees. Here are four key areas to focus on to prevent security breaches.

Efficiencies could have freed up $67 million in tech spending, a TIGTA study finds.

The IRS is warning of yet another dangerous phishing scheme.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a new warning Tuesday to users of its online e-Services cautioning them to beware of a new phishing scam that attempts to trick tax professionals into “signing” a new e-Services user agreement.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said they were “taken aback” to find out the Internal Revenue Service has recently signed a $7.25 million contract with Equifax for verifying taxpayer identities after the company admitted to a massive data breach exposing the personal information of approximately half of all Americans.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that the hackers who broke into its corporate filing system last year accessed two people’s personal information, a change from the agency’s previous assessment that it didn’t believe such data had been compromised.

Accounting Today presents in its 2017 Malpractice Insurance Guide

Following record results that flagged the growth of its cyber-security business, the Big Four firm revealed that it has been successfully targeted by hackers who accessed data from an internal email platform.

The cloud hosting provider experienced a ransomware attack that affected a third of its firm clients in California and Texas.

The recently disclosed breach came from the commission's test filing system.

The commission has been aware of the breach since 2016.

The Internal Revenue Service has proposed regulations allowing truncated Taxpayer Identification Numbers on the Form W-2 to help protect people’s Social Security Numbers from identity theft.

The IRS’s ‘Don’t Take the Bait’ campaign shares tactics for protecting client data and practitioner systems.

While tax season is a period rife with hacking attempts, cybercriminals don’t take any time off. Accountants have to be vigilant with safety year-round, says cybersecurity expert Kevin O’Brien.

Reform speeches; nurturing the best clients; using KPIs; write for Forbes; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

The IRS is warning about possible fake charity scams emerging due to Hurricane Harvey.