What if I told you the biggest threat to your company’s security wasn’t the teenager in a hoodie halfway across the globe—but your accountant? Yeah, the person who sends you a smiley face after asking for your bank routing number.

Let’s break this down: your accountant has your bank accounts, your tax records, your QuickBooks credentials, your retirement details, your kid’s social security number, and—let’s not forget—the power to submit filings to the IRS on your behalf. That’s not access. That’s god mode.

Now imagine this: It’s April 14. You’re sweating over that last-minute tax deadline. You get an email from your accountant. It says, “Oops! Sorry for the delay. Here’s a file you need to submit to the IRS today. You’ll need to enable macros.”

Stop. Right. There.

That one click? That’s the launch code. The digital equivalent of handing your keys to a car thief because they said they were your valet.

You just gave a hacker access to everything your accountant already had—and everything you have. Your entire network. Your passwords. Your data. Your clients. Your future revenue. All of it, gone.

Trust is the Trojan Horse

Here’s the thing: you trust your accountant. That’s what makes this so dangerous. Because trust is the perfect disguise for cybercriminals. And your accountant’s network? That’s a juicy target. It’s not about if it gets breached—it’s about when.

Most businesses don’t think about the cyber hygiene of their third-party vendors until it’s too late. Until their own systems are bleeding data because of someone else’s sloppiness. So ask yourself: Has your accountant had a third-party cybersecurity assessment? Do they know what “multi-factor authentication” even means? If you’re unsure, you’re already at risk.

Simulation Is a Joke. Education Is the Answer.

Let’s talk about phishing training. Most companies think sending out a fake phishing email and shaming employees who click is “training.” That’s like yelling at someone who fails a fire drill and calling it fire safety.

It’s not enough to test users. You have to teach them.

That’s why we built Self Defense—a monthly cybersecurity education program designed to turn users into actual human firewalls. We’re not testing you. We’re training you. Because users don’t fail phishing emails—they fail to be trained.

Do This Before It’s Too Late

Here’s what you do, right now:

  1. Get your users trained—not tested. Simulations don’t cut it. Real training does.
  2. Freeze your credit—yes, even if you haven’t been breached (yet).
  3. Vet your accountant’s cybersecurity—if they’re not rock solid, neither are you.
  4. Schedule a third-party assessment—because internal IT can’t check its own homework.

Because the next time a hacker sends an email pretending to be your accountant, it might actually be your accountant—after they’ve been compromised.

Welcome to Tuesday. It’s not paranoia if they’re already in your inbox.