Ah…tax season is here again! I am sure you are extremely excited to file your taxes. I know I am! The days of going to your local accountant seem to be behind us with so many online services that allow us to file for very little money or for free. These online services make the process very easy for those that do not have complicated tax returns.

But here is the issue from a cybersecurity perspective. How do we file our sensitive tax information securely? Well, there are many ways that we can sleep at night knowing that cyber-attacks will not steal our information. Let us begin with the basics.

Your computer, what is the condition of it? Has it been subjected to viruses in the past? Do you get those annoying pop windows out of left field letting you know that your antivirus is outdated and for you to “click here?” Sound familiar? It is absolutely critical to have a clean and updated workstation. Formatting your workstation is the ultimate solution to assure that you are free and clear of any viruses that can cause damage. Check out this step-by-step tutorial.

Tax season may trigger a thought into our minds. What data should I store or delete? Honestly, this process should be ongoing, but it is better late than never, correct? Let us keep in mind that data is not only digital but also old skool’ paper. Remember paper? With digital data at rest or in transit, encryption will be your new best friend. Data that is at rest, AES encryption is a strong solution, and data in transit, assure you are on a secure website (HTTPS). Ok, with paper, have a clean desk policy in your office. Do not leave sensitive documents exposed for others to see and securely store them away. Purchase a quality paper shredder for documents that need to be disposed of. A simple search online can land you a nice new toy!

Have I mentioned that I am not a Wi-Fi fan? I’m not! I use it, but I prefer a solid, good ol’ fashion LAN connection! BUT, if you need to utilize Wi-Fi to submit your taxes, security needs to be at the top of your priority list. How do we secure our Wi-Fi connection? I have absolutely no idea! Very funny, Russ! The first thing is to choose a unique SSID identification or name. Please do not name your Wi-Fi network after your name and change the default name that the manufacturer provides. Check out this list. My favorite SSID name is, GetOffMyLawn and The Net starring Sandra Bullock. Funny names!

Next, create a strong unique network password. You can go complex (may be tough to remember), or a passphrase that only you know. For example, cU\x$>HvL`MhEv8P or The Quick Brown Fox jumped over the Home Depot fence! I think you get the idea. From there, I highly recommend the 5GHz network over 2.4 GHz and ALWAYS go with the WPA2 framework with AES encryption.

Finally, we need to review our login credentials. For many years, I have been using a password vault to store all of my account login information. I only know one password and that is to the vault. There are many good password vaults on the market, but my favorite is 1Password. Take a look at the top password vaults and choose one that best suits your needs.