The hallmark of the Visory experience, our dedicated team of professionals provides a high degree of support for all your IT needs
Leading edge solutions that are always working to maintain the integrity of your firm’s IT backbone
Best in class security to protect your firm’s data and technology
Tips, advice, and industry insight from our team of accountants and business owners to yours.
Bypass the wait time and access Visory’s Obsessive Client Support®
Take your business to new heights with Visory’s flexible QuickBooks hosting solutions
The same Sage you work in every day, only better
An affordable CRM for small- and medium-sized businesses, built to support your sales, marketing and customer service needs
Revolutionize your next tax season with added efficiency and mobility
Access critical applications that are integrated seamlessly into your workflow, conveniently hosted on the same server
Access affordable enterprise-grade hosting solutions with none of the IT burden
We’ll help you develop and implement the right cybersecurity policies and protocols to keep your firm secure and in compliance with regulatory guidance
We’re here to manage your firm’s IT activity, safeguarding the integrity of your infrastructure and devices, so you don’t have to
We’ll manage your cybersecurity policies and protocols to keep your firm secure and in compliance
Security that ensures everyone granted access is who they claim to be
Educate and train your most important last line of defense – your people
Protection where people and their machines intersect
Secure access to your data. Reduce the risk of compromise, prevent cyberthreats.
A different approach to protecting emails
Secure single sign-on access for a connected world
Backup your data for business continuity and compliance
Keep everyone on the same page. Any user, every device.
Secure connections for all your users, devices and networks
Get started on a robust security plan with a WISP for your business
Protect your organization with the expertise of our Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) without having to hire a full-time resource
IRS 4557
Complying with state and federal privacy regulations and more
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy
Recent high-profile cyberattacks underscore the importance of tracking how and where client data is used, transferred and stored by third party vendors to RIAs. The reality is, “the cloud” is not – and never was – a cybersecurity solution.
RIAs are responsible for telling clients when a vendor is hacked and their data may be at risk. This means firm principals must take a far greater interest in ongoing cybersecurity management than they probably ever wanted. It’s not an enviable position to be in, but passivity and ignorance on these issues puts the firm at much greater risks of problems down the road.
RIAs may not ever be able to guarantee the absolute security of client information and assets, but they are not absolved from putting forth their best effort to protect them. Firm owners need to understand the bigger picture around how and where the outsourced cloud-based solutions they have chosen are storing and protecting their clients’ data.
VENDOR BREACH
Vendor breaches are vendor issues, right?
Wrong. RIA principals must consider how their responsibility to act in clients’ best interests translates to data and personal information protection.
The checks and balances that advisers employ to run their firms and manage client assets and risk should extend to vendor selection and cybersecurity. This means that before a breach happens, RIAs should be doing due diligence on their vendors to ensure that their cybersecurity protocols fit into the firm’s business processes.
(More: Technology issues test RIAs and custodians.)
Choosing common technology vendors or bigger brands does not obfuscate the RIA’s responsibility to clients. Just because the vendor is big does not free the RIA from having to understand how they handle their data – i.e., does the vendor use third parties, and if so, how and for what? How do they handle data encryption? Who manages their servers?
And a new crop of technologies in the RIA space means that the best-known brands may not offer the best solutions for some firms. When considering newer entrants to the space, it is critical that firms conduct a thorough cybersecurity vetting process.
Regardless of whether it’s an established brand or new provider, advisers have an obligation to their clients to understand how their data is being managed and to take action if a breach happens.
CLIENT DATA
Here’s a key question: “Where is my client data?
Suppose a RIA uses a third party for its CRM or for portfolio management. The vendor uses a global computing system, it could be any provider, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud or another. Now let’s say there is a data breach at one of the data centers around the world for this provider. Is the RIA’s client data at risk?
While there may be no way to know right away whether client data was compromised, take a step back from for a moment. When choosing the CRM vendor, did the RIA ask which global cloud provider the vendor used? Did the RIA ask where – literally, what country or countries – their client data was being stored?
(More: Someone tried to hack my Social Security account.)
If the RIA does not know where the data is being stored, the firm might not even know that its data was or could have been breached. Firms need to ask their vendors specific questions about where their data is being stored. They also need to ask about the notification process in the event of a breach, particularly if data is going overseas.
Most advisers would probably admit that they have assumed “the cloud” as a mysterious place where their client data and firm information are safe and secure by default. This needs to change. The worst thing an RIA can do is to not ask questions of their vendors. Instead, RIAs need to probe their vendors on their own cybersecurity protocols so that in the event of an issue, they can communicate with clients with some assurances.
Wes Stillman is the president of RightSize Solutions.
Related Topics: Cyber Attacks
Learn more about reprints and licensing for this article.