Accountancy Under Attack
Rich Jackson
Leader in Business Development & Strategic Growth | Data Protection & Cyber Security | Human Firewall Specialist | Webinar Host & Guest Speaker | "Do the Right Thing, and Do Things Right"
The Accountancy Profession is Under Attack.
That statement is no exaggeration.
I`ve commented at length, and often, on this subject in recent days, about a series of serious cyber-attacks on the profession since mid-January, which provide growing evidence in respect of accountancy being a red-hot and growing target for malicious cyberattack. In particular umbrella groups, it seems, but the profession and sector at large has some serious risk management to consider.
And, if you read the feedback from accountancy clients on social media - they are very upset and angry at the pace of recovery and lack of communication coming out of the affected firms (which to a great extent is exacerbated by the use of VOIP telephony - read on).
Intuit Quickbooks (last week)
“Accounting and tax software provider Intuit?has notified customers of an ongoing phishing campaign impersonating the company and trying to lure victims with fake warnings that their accounts have been suspended.
Intuit's alert follows reports received from customers who were emailed and told that their Intuit accounts were disabled following a recent server security upgrade.
"We have temporarily disabled your account due to inactivity. It is compulsory that you restore your access within next 24 hours," the attackers say in the phishing messages, masquerading as the Intuit Maintenance Team.”
Parasol and Brookson Group (Jan 2022)
Useful link showing cyber-attack trail and how Brookson are managing their recovery:?https://www.brooksongroup.co.uk/latest-updates/
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SJD and Nixon Williams (Jan 2022)
Part of Brookson, these two firms admitted on 19th January that they had also fallen to a cyber-attack:
Summary
The ripple effect of attacks on 3rd party software is best explained by this article by Carrier Management:
“Hackers will often try to compromise the servers that send out updates and patches to all users of that software, passing off their malware as a legitimate update. In some cases, the hackers’ target may be one specific firm that they know use that software and the other firms in the industry are simply considered “collateral damage.”
This is called “a waterhole attack,” because it is like hunters staking out a water source in the Savannah to find big game.
“If you get the right software, you are guaranteed to get a whole swath of victims in that specific area,”
In short, all accounting firms are busy digitally adopting, using much of the same SaaS products, and many without enough focus on cyber defence. If one (big) firm gets hit – the whole profession will feel the ripple effect.
The significant “client-facing” impacts of the Brookson/SJD/Nixon Williams attacks include taking down of their payroll service (ie they couldn’t process wages/salaries for their clients) and telephony (they use VOIP technology for their phone systems so all their phones were down).
On that basis some firms may reflect on the future of their VOIP telephony, as a risk to client communications. If there is one thing you really need to remain stable following a cyber-attack, is your ability to maintain two-way communication with your clients and customers.
I`d be delighted to really start building dialogue with your practice team in order to reduce your risk over in the coming months - the threat to accountancy is severe and all too real, this past few weeks has proven that without any doubt.