Data Security for Recruitment Firms: How Cloud Accounting Can Protect Sensitive Financial Information

As a recruitment or HR professional, you likely know the importance of solid accounting protocols. After all, watching the numbers is the best way to ensure you’re paid for your services and that money is flowing which will keep your staff and company afloat. That’s why it’s essential to keep on top of accounting trends, and one of the most prevalent of them is the rise of cloud accounting. It’s a method of keeping the numbers in check without physical servers or downloaded software. Instead, the software and servers are in the cloud.

Cloud accounting has many benefits, especially when it comes to preventing cybercrime and the loss of sensitive financial data. This guide will get you started by explaining the security perks of cloud accounting and additional steps you can take to ensure that your recruitment firm is protected.

The Value of Cloud Accounting

First, an introduction to cloud accounting. For many years, most companies have had server rooms and software costs to keep essential accounting programs running. With the cloud, the accounting software and all your data are kept online with an accounting software solution provider. For a recurring fee, you can keep everything you need on that external server that you can access from anywhere. In essence, the entire team at your recruitment firm could work remotely and always have access to the tools they need to complete accounting functions and other essential processes.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

There are many benefits to cloud accounting. You’ll save money by paying a fee for everything in one package instead of paying for software, extra IT staff, and server maintenance. Many cloud companies also handle most updates, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting an essential patch that could open you to a security vulnerability.

Another benefit of cloud computing is the potential to outsource your accounting functions to an external company. The perks of doing so include more flexibility and the ability to access top talent outside your organization. You could even completely offshore your accounting team, which could make things easier for your in-house staff and could often be more cost-effective.

Challenges of Cloud Accounting

While the pros typically outnumber the cons, there are some challenges to consider when switching to cloud accounting. One of them is that if you don’t set it up just right, you could create vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain access and steal your data. The good news is that most cloud companies have security measures that can supplement your protocols.

Failure to take cybersecurity seriously could result in several issues. One is that you could lose your financial data, which could be detrimental in the wrong hands. Also, if it’s learned that your data was not secure, your recruitment firm could face a serious hit to your reputation, which could impact business in the future.

Setting Proper Permissions Is Key

Cloud accounting can protect sensitive data by allowing you to set secure access controls and specific permissions for each employee. This is beneficial because you can closely monitor who is doing what in your organization. However, you must be careful when setting permissions. It’s a common practice for administrators to give all employees equal permissions. However, you need to take a more granular approach and only allow each employee to access the tools and data necessary for their position.

Failure to do so could leave you wide open for cybersecurity threats. Hackers use many tactics to learn usernames and passwords, ranging from brute force attacks to credential recycling. If everyone on your staff has access to all data, a hacker could use any of them to steal your information.

The best way to assign the proper access every time is to keep a list of positions and access so there’s no confusion. Remember that it’s just as essential to monitor cloud permissions when an employee leaves your organization. When that happens, restrict their access completely so they can’t get back in after the fact.

Protections To Put In Place

Beyond setting proper permissions, there are other steps you can take to combine the protections provided by cloud accounting with your own systems.

A big part of your cloud security strategy is to work with your cloud provider and learn how they work. Ask about their security updates and how they go about protecting your financial information.

One crucial step is to work with your cloud provider to encrypt incoming and outgoing data. Ask if your cloud service offers server-side encryption, where they encrypt the data before it is stored. Many services will provide an encryption key that you can use to access the information when necessary. Another option is to encrypt the data on your end before uploading it to the cloud.

Next, you want to implement some protections that prevent hackers from accessing your system and your cloud accounting software. Firewalls and antivirus software can detect threats and eliminate them on the spot. Using a virtual private network is a good idea because many of these services will encrypt your information and disguise your location.

Finally, you’ll want to have a backup in place just in case the data on the cloud is ever compromised or lost. Your process should include backing up the data to a completely separate server from the cloud so that if there’s an issue, you can restore the information and quickly recover after a breach.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a way to protect your data and enhance your finance management, upgrading to cloud accounting is a good way to go. Taking advantage of the cloud’s protections can bring your recruiting firm to the next level while keeping your information secure.