Top Data Protection Tips for QuickBooks Users

As a growing business, your customers are very important to you. Your customers trust you and submit crucial information while making a purchase. Suppose your accounting requirements make it necessary to collect customer information such as bank details, debit and credit card details, date of birth, phone numbers, addresses, email IDs, etc. In that case, it is your liability to take adequate measures to protect this information from being compromised. This article will provide some valuable tips to ensure information security in QuickBooks. Before moving ahead, let’s have a quick look at QuickBooks and its in-built security features.

QuickBooks and its In-Built Security Features

QuickBooks is a business accounting solution that helps small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) track the financial transactions associated with their income and expenses. It can store and process data to enable accounting professionals to issue invoices, pay bills, generate reports, and prepare tax sheets. QuickBooks allows you to set a password so only the authorized users can log in to QuickBooks and access its features. Some versions of QuickBooks, such as QuickBooks Desktop, also allow you to protect data with an additional password.

Pointers to Ensure Security for Customer Data

While a growing business opens doors of opportunities for your organization, it also creates possibilities for your data to get exposed to threats. Till the time your system identifies abnormal activities or instances, it is often too late. However, with QuickBooks, there is a robust security layer for your accounting data, provided you keep the following tips in mind.

Collect Only What is Necessary

Collect only necessary and relevant information from customers. It will save you valuable time and keep complexities at bay. The bigger the data collection, the higher the chances of data complexity. Complex data is more prone to data loss.

Make Strategies Against Digital Attacks

The budget constraints of your small or mid-size business may push you towards unreliable security measures. While it is a wise decision to go for cost-effective options, security should be your first concern. Compromised security can easily translate into severe damage to your business.

Consider the following guidelines for digital wellbeing.

• Install and maintain a robust firewall service to secure the data.
• Use complex system passwords that include alpha-numeric and special characters.
• QuickBooks allows you to set a password on the application level, ensure to use this facility.
• Do not create easily breakable security parameters.
• Encrypt data before transmitting it via open or public networks.
• Update antivirus software as often as possible.
• Provide a unique ID to each person that has computer access.
• Track and monitor traffic to a network resource.
• Regularly test security measures to keep them up to date.

Create Robust Personal Policies

Customer data is highly vulnerable to internal attacks, and your staff may pose a threat to it. The following steps can minimize the possibilities of data leakage and theft.

• While recruiting employees, get the agreement that restricts disclosure of confidential information signed by them. Adopt a zero-tolerance policy if there is a violation.
• Create and maintain a strict password protection policy that applies to all personnel under your organization.
• There should be a set guideline to use one client’s information for another client to discourage poaching of clientele.
• Arrange training programs regularly for your employees to create awareness about the perils of data breach and theft.

Take Extra Care During Data Back-Up and Disposal

It is a good practice to take a backup of your customer data, so you can maintain efficiency in accounting in case of system or resource failure. However, it also creates a need for paying extra attention to protect backed up data. Also, disposal of irrelevant data from drives and servers must be performed under strict supervision.

Apps4Rent Can Help You Securely Host QuickBooks

The reputation of your business largely depends on how you use customer data while providing it the maximum protection. The scattered on-premises resources like drives, servers, and systems with uneven policies for users can put your data at risk. QuickBooks hosting comes with highly secure, fully tested, and reliable measures to protect your data. You can host QuickBooks in the cloud and make it available to all your employees through a wide range of devices without compromising the security of your data. As an Intuit Authorized Hosting Provider, Apps4Rent helps you host QuickBooks in the SSAE16 compliant data centers. Contact our customer support team available 24/7 via phone, chat, and email for hosting plans inquiries.