Cybersecurity Risks & Responsibilities for Accountants and Bookkeepers
with Ken Dickinson
When: Friday, February 20th
Time: 12pm
Where: Zoom
Cybersecurity Risks & Responsibilities for Accountants and Bookkeepers
Cybercriminals increasingly target accounting and bookkeeping professionals because of the sensitive financial data, payroll access, and trusted client relationships you manage every day. This session will focus on the most common cyber threats facing accounting and bookkeeping firms—such as phishing, business email compromise, ransomware, and credential theft—and why even small firms are considered high-value targets. We’ll translate cybersecurity from a technical topic into a practical business risk that directly affects client trust, compliance, and professional liability.
You will leave this session with:
✅ A clear understanding of where firms are most vulnerable
✅ What “reasonable safeguards” look like in practice
✅ Concrete steps they can take to reduce risk
The presentation will cover best practices for email security, access controls, data protection, remote work, and incident response, along with regulatory and professional responsibility considerations. This session is designed to be practical, non-technical, and immediately applicable to real-world accounting and bookkeeping operations.
About Ken Dickinson & Bay Area Computer Training (BACT)
Ken Dickinson is the founder and Executive Director of Bay Area Computer Training (BACT), a trusted computer training facility in San Rafael since 1991. With roots in teaching tech skills to refugees for San Francisco in 1984, Ken launched BACT to support individuals and professionals in mastering digital tools. The company offers a friendly, supportive training environment, delivering tailored classes in-person and via Zoom across the Bay Area, specializing in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, QuickBooks, AI tools, and more. Ken teaches an entrepreneurial series of classes for the YWCA and Digital Inclusion classes to Seniors for Vivalon in San Rafael and for the County of Kauai. Ken was recently awarded a Digital Equity Innovation Award by the State of Hawaii for community work in digital equity, inclusion and innovation.
