Data security

Professional advisors need to be more protective -- of both their practices and their clients, according to HD Vest president and CEO Roger Ochs.

The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to change its policy on identity theft and provide victims with copies of the fraudulent tax returns that have been filed under their names by scammers.

As the debate goes on about how to curb the increasing incidence of taxpayer identity theft in the U.S., members of BKR International discussed their experiences during the recent tax filing season, as well as ways to mitigate future risk and help clients respond to fraudulent activity should it occur.

On the heels of a disclosure this week that identity thieves were able to access 104,000 tax returns through the Internal Revenue Service’s Get Transcript application, a new report finds that the IRS is improving its identification of fraudulent tax returns involving identity theft.

The Internal Revenue Service warned of a huge data breach of its online Get Transcript application that allowed the tax returns of approximately 104,000 taxpayers to be accessed by identity thieves.

Thomson Reuters Checkpoint released a special report on Monday to highlight the prevalence of tax-related identity theft and guide practitioners representing victims.

A site that is used to process tax forms for nonprofit organizations on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service recently suffered a data breach.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division has created a cybercrime unit to combat the growing trend of identity theft-related tax fraud as the problem morphs into data breaches and becomes more international in scope.

Tim Loo learned early this year that his name and Social Security number had made their way onto a fraudulent tax return, and immediately wondered whether the identity thief might also have his bank-account details or his kids’ Social Security numbers.

Video surveillance is something that’s pretty easy to add in your office, and serves as both a deterrent to people poking around where they shouldn’t, and making a record of when they do.

Practical tips for when and what to disclose

Chief audit executives in the power and utility industry rank cyber security as the highest risk and biggest concern for their industry, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

One in four Americans (25 percent) fell victim to information security breaches in the past year, according to a new survey from the AICPA conducted by Harris Poll. This statistic represents more than double the number of people (11 percent) who reported being victimized in a similar survey taken just over a year ago.

Accountants’ top technology-related priority is preventing security threats, according to the 25th Anniversary North American Top Technology Initiatives Survey.

In a tax season plagued with identify theft and tax fraud, a new method of online criminal activity has been identified.

RubinBrown announced it has formed a new Cyber Security Advisory Services group, appointing Rob Rudloff to lead the national accounting and consulting firm’s new group.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen met with the heads of some of the major tax software companies, tax preparation chains, state tax commissioners and other officials in an effort to combat the growing problem identity theft and tax fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service is sending letters to verify the identity of taxpayers as part of its effort this tax season to combat the growing problem of identity theft.

Cybersecurity is a CEO-level issue, stated David Finn, executive director of Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, during his closing day keynote of the 2015 Microsoft Convergence Conference.

Proper backups are crucial to disaster recovery