Why every accounting practice needs a recovery plan — not just prevention tools

Let’s say your firm has all the right cybersecurity basics in place:

✅ Firewalls
✅ Multi-factor authentication
✅ Antivirus and EDR tools
✅ Strong passwords
✅ Employee training

That’s a solid foundation — and you should feel good about it.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: It’s still not enough.

Why? Because prevention alone doesn’t guarantee protection.

Cybersecurity is a balancing act. Lock things down too tightly, and you can’t work efficiently. Loosen up too much, and you leave the door open for bad actors.

And the cybercriminals? They’re getting smarter — using AI to mimic emails from clients, spoof trusted services, and exploit the smallest gaps in your defenses.

Even with your best tools and training, there’s always a chance something slips through. And when it does, the firms that recover fastest aren’t the ones with the most expensive software — they’re the ones with a clear recovery plan.

Here’s the scenario no one wants to think about:

You walk into the office, open your laptop, and instead of your normal dashboard…
you see this:

“Your files have been encrypted. Pay $50,000 in Bitcoin to restore access.”

Client data? Locked.
Billing systems? Frozen.
Your team? Paralyzed — and looking to you for answers.

The minutes start ticking by… and every minute costs you:

• Productivity

• Client confidence

• Compliance standing

• Revenue

This is why every accounting firm needs a recovery plan

At Big Water Technologies, we work with firms that operate under strict compliance requirements — IRS guidelines, GLBA, state CPA board rules, and more.

And yet, too many still don’t have a structured incident response or recovery strategy.

That’s why we created a free guide:
📄 “What to Do When Disaster Strikes: Recovering from Malicious Attacks”

Inside, we break down the exact steps your firm needs to take before, during, and after a cyberattack — including:

• How to assess your biggest risks

• The 5 phases of incident response

• What to back up (and how to make backups ransomware-proof)

• Who to notify — and how to communicate during a breach

• How to test and refine your plan

• What compliance auditors will expect from you after an incident

The goal? Turn a nightmare into an inconvenience.

It’s not about fear — it’s about resilience.

Accounting firms don’t just deal with tax returns and spreadsheets. You handle highly sensitive client data — and your reputation is built on trust and professionalism.

If you couldn’t access your systems tomorrow, how quickly could you bounce back?

Download the guide, build your plan, and be ready.

📥 Get the guide here

And if you're not sure where to start? Let’s talk.
We help accounting firms build security and recovery strategies that align with the way they actually work — and what their clients expect.