Additional Measures to Keep Your Information Secure
Ways We're Keeping Your Information Safe
At the Willeford Group, we value keeping your information secure. Thus, we are excited to tell you about our new Document Sharing Policy.

What's our goal?

As you know, you regularly share documents with us that contain sensitive information such as tax ID numbers, account numbers, account names, etc.
Our goal is to have 100% of clients using our secure portal to share information with us 100% of the time.
Reasons for a New Policy Now
At last week's meeting of the Academy of Dental CPAs (ADCPA), one of the major topics of discussion was cyber security and keeping client data even more secure.

  • Hackers and cyber criminals are becoming increasingly more sophisticated with how they gain access to sensitive information.
  • We've seen an increase in spam and phishing emails. As time goes on, phishing emails look more and more legitimate and become more difficult to detect.

  • Our team always exercises caution with links and attachments in emails. However, every link and attachment poses potential risk.

  • To make things more secure for you and us, the safest bet is for our team to assume that emails asking us to download a document, open an attachment, or click a link are ones that should be deleted (unless we already knew to expect it).  

  • One of our top priorities when serving you is to make sure we do what we can to remain secure.
Our New Document Sharing Policy
Starting today, we are narrowing the ways we receive client documents.

  • Our preference is to receive documents exclusively through our secure portal. (This is the only way we know for certain that the information we've received is safe to open.)
  • In the interim, we will continue to accept documents sent to us directly from your email address. However, we would ask that you only email documents as a last resort, when you are unable to use the portal. (Not only are email attachments riskier, they also use up storage space in our mailboxes.)

  • We will no longer open documents shared through Google Drive, Dropbox, or similar services.
A Joint Effort To Keep Us All Safe
For many of you, our new Document Sharing Policy doesn't change your usual routine.

For some of you, it may require developing new habits.
  • We know new habits can take time, and the added layer of security that will result is worth the effort.

  • Using our client portal offers the greatest benefit to you and us! Our portal is the most secure way to share information with us. Additionally, using our portal means all your documents are in one location that's accessible to us and you 24/7.

We appreciate your help with keeping your data and our firm secure!
Willeford Group CPA, PC | https://thewillefordgroup.com/
Every effort is made to provide accurate and complete information in Willeford Group publications. This information is being provided as a courtesy to our clients and is based on the best of our knowledge at the time.