Unfortunately, cybercriminals are very prevalent these days,
and they are getting very sophisticated at mining personal data and using it
for their own benefit. Fortunately, the IRS has caught on to this and has
recently launched a campaign to help warn tax practitioners about the danger of
cybercrime and how to guard against it.
Advice from the IRS
So, what kind of advice does the IRS give to help guard
against the threat of cybercrime?
Well, for one thing, it urges tax professionals to make sure
they have anti-malware and other forms of security on any and all electronic
devices that they use to process client data.
It also encourages them to know the warning signs of “phishing”
emails, which are emails designed to trick people into revealing personal data.
These emails often pretend to come directly from the IRS, which is why it is
very important to recognize these emails and never provide secure data or to
click on any links or downloads included in these emails.
Tax practitioners are also advised to have a data security
plan and are even provided with two wonderful resource options to help them do
so, Publication 4557 and Small Business Information Security- The
Fundamentals, put out by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology.
Taxpayers Should Be Careful as Well
While tax practitioners are the main focus of this push to
increase security by the IRS, taxpayers themselves can also take steps to be
more careful with their data.
Only working with qualified tax professionals, never
providing personal information to anyone who claims to be the IRS via phone or
email, and using hard to guess passwords on any sites that contain secure data,
as well as not reusing passwords are all things that taxpayers can do to keep
their personal information more secure.
If both taxpayers and tax practitioners work together with
the IRS, the world can be a much safer place.