8 things you should already be doing if your business is providing financial services:
As an accounting firm providing services in Massachusetts, you would need to enact a number of cybersecurity policies to protect your clients' sensitive financial and personal information from cyber threats. Some of the key cybersecurity policies that you would need to implement include:
Information security policy: This policy should outline the overall approach to protecting sensitive information and should be communicated to all employees. It should also include guidelines for handling sensitive data, such as encryption, secure storage, and access controls.
Risk assessment and management: You should conduct regular risk assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities and threats to your network and systems. This should include identifying sensitive data, assessing the likelihood and impact of potential threats, and implementing appropriate controls to mitigate those risks.
Network security: Implementing firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and other security measures to protect your network and systems from unauthorized access, malware and other cyber threats. Additionally, ensure that your network is segmented and that access to sensitive data is restricted to authorized personnel only.
Email security: Implementing email security measures, such as email filtering, anti-spam, and anti-virus software, to protect your email system from malware and phishing attacks. Additionally, ensure that your employees are trained to recognize and avoid phishing emails.
Data backup and recovery: Regularly backing up sensitive data and having a disaster recovery plan in place in case of data loss or system failure. This plan should include procedures for restoring data, testing the plan, and updating it regularly.
Employee security training: Provide regular security training to employees on how to identify and prevent cyber threats, how to handle sensitive data, and the importance of following security policies and procedures.
Incident response plan: Having an incident response plan in place to quickly and effectively respond to a security incident, such as a data breach, and minimize the impact of the incident.
Compliance: Ensure that your cybersecurity policies and procedures comply with all applicable state and federal laws, regulations and industry standards. Such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00.
It's important to note that cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving and it's crucial for you to stay informed and up-to-date on the latest threats and best practices for protecting sensitive data. Additionally, regular review and testing of your policies and procedures is important to ensure that they are effective in protecting your clients' sensitive information.