Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/652065
March 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 11 APPS WE LOVE APPS WE LOVE IS SPONSORED BY HTTP://ACCOUNTANTSWORLD.COM AccountantsWorld ® Accountants First SM ... only at Dr. Barbara Rembiesa, CEO of t he I nter nat iona l A ssoc iat ion of I n f or m a t io n Te c h no lo g y A s s e t Managers, Inc. (I A ITA M) recently stated, "My professional estimate would be that about a quarter to a third of government agencies and corporations are not practicing what I wou ld c a l l 'sa fe mobi le de v ice ma nagement.'" Employer-ow ned devices can be managed and secured w it h a v a r iet y of Mobi le Dev ice Ma nagement (M DM) prog ra ms, each designed to do diferent things. Capterra has reviewed many of these programs and we encourage you to ex a m i ne t hese rev iews ca ref u l ly. w w w.capterra.com/mobile-device- management-sofware Tere are plenty of steps you can t a k e to k e e p you r p e r s on a l a nd bu s i ne s s i n for m at ion s a f e f rom p r y i n g e y e s . M e m b e r s o f t h e e x t e nd e d C PA P ra c t i c e A d v i s o r community and others have shared some of their favorite security apps. Secure messaging Te technology blog MAKEUSEOF. COM warns that if a messaging app is popular, it's probably not secure. It's not just law enforcement agencies t h at h ave t he power to mon itor communication, service providers, telecom companies, and even tech g ur us monitoring open net work s have the power, if they choose to use it, to tune in on your conversations. If you're sending pictures of your cat or talk ing about movie times, you probably don't care who's listening. But if you would prefer your conver- sation be completely private, consider switching to a secure messaging app. WICKR – Snapchat for grownups – send message with specifc expira- tion dates and times, anonymous – send communication that no one else sees. Howard Tullman, CEO for 1871, a Chicago hub for digital startups, says Wickr is popular among politi- cians in Washington, D.C. "A ll the political leaders in Washington use it now because everyone doesn't want to have the Hillary email experience," Tullman said at a City Club of Chi- cago address last June. Us e SIGN A L PRI VAT E MES - SENGER – encrypted texting app by Open W h isper Systems – to tex t 1-on-1 or in groups. No data is stored and all communication is encrypted. It s e e m s t h at E d w a rd S nowde n recommends this app and claims to use it regularly. Need we say more? Related to Sig na l Pr ivate Mes- sen ger i s Si g n a l 's REDPHONE – secure encr y pted telephone ca l ls with VoIP (voice over Internet pro- tocol), from Open W hisper Systems. Password security We sur veyed members of the CPA Practice Adv isor Tought Leader Sy mposium to f nd out their best prac t ices when it comes to ma n- aging passwords. John Higgins, CPA.CITP of CPA Crossings and Edi Osborne, CSPM, CPBA, CPVA of Mentor Plus use R O B O F O R M E V E RY W H E R E t o manage passwords. "Tis is a pass - word keeper / generator app that stores all of my login credentials. I only have to remember one master password and the credentia ls are synchronized across all of my devices. It is a signifcant time saver and allows Security By Gail Perry, CPA, Editor-in-Chief R ecent discussions about smartphone security (think Apple and the FBI) have goten us thinking about the kinds of vulnerability to which we open ourselves by using mobile devices. For every cure there are probably hundreds or even thousands of problematic issues, but at least this month's Apps We Love might get you thinking about taking care of the data you hold in your hand. MAKEUSEOF.COM WICKR SIGNAL PRIVATE MESSENGER 1PASSWORD LASTPASS DOCSTOGO DROPBOX ROBOFORM EVERYWHERE me to have more secure passwords," said Higgins. "I like to change pass- words ofen," added Osborne. R ick R ichardson, CPA .CITP, CGM A of R ichardson Media Tech recommends 1PASSWORD . Doug Sleeter , founder of Te Sleeter Group, and Sandra Wiley of Boomer Con- sulting recommend LASTPASS - "To help me with old age and not remem- bering my passwords," said Wiley. Leslie Shiner of Te Shiner Group recommends PASSWORD SAFE . Secure Document Transfer Not on ly does sec u re doc u ment transfer ensure that your informa- t ion i s sa fe, you c a n u se apps to securely transfer large fles that won't travel well via email. We've rounded up some of the usual suspects along w it h a few apps w it h w h ic h you might not already be familiar. DROPBOX : R ecom mended by members of the CPA Tought Leader Sy mposiu m M a rk K oziel , C PA , CGM A, vice president of frm ser- vices and global alliances at AICPA, David Cieslak, CPA.CITP, CGM A, GSEC , of A r x is Technolog y, and Leslie Shiner , Dropbox takes the guesswork out of wondering if a fle is too big to send via email. Easily c on ne c t you r c ol le a g ue s w it h a simple email invitation and post fles in a secure cloud storage env iron- ment that is accessible by those you authorize. A free program gets you started with 2 gigabytes of storage, and you can pay a fee if you have larger space requirements. Cieslak also recommends GOOGLE DRIVE and MICROSOFT SKYDRIVE for sec u re cloud storage a nd f i le backup and for geting easy access to fles from any location, and Cieslak and Shiner also put their stamps of approval on DOCSTOGO for docu- ment viewing and editing, saving, and sychronization .