Tax practitioners who are working remotely should utilize a virtual private network, according to the Internal Revenue Service and the Security Summit. The use of a VPN is recommend as an important step to protect against cyber intruders.
A VPN provides an encrypted “tunnel”. It protects data sent over the Internet and systems connected to it .
The recommends is the third in a five-part Security Summit series called Working Virtually: Protecting Tax Data at Home and at Work. The Summit is an effort that is comprised by the IRS, state tax agencies and the private-sector tax industry, including software companies.
Practitioners who use the public Internet, instead of a VPN, can find criminals gaining access to their office network by accessing their remote Internet sessions.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind