Houston CPA Firm Achieves GLBA Safeguards Rule Compliance

A Houston CPA firm with 28 staff serving 400 business clients received notification from their professional liability insurer that their cyber coverage would not renew without documentation of GLBA Safeguards Rule compliance — specifically a Written Information Security Program (WISP) and deployed MFA. SpaceTown IT completed the compliance project in six weeks.

The Compliance Gap

The CPA firm had no formal WISP, no MFA on their tax software, client portal, or remote access, and client financial data stored on local workstations without encryption. Their cyber insurance renewal was conditioned on: a completed WISP approved by the firm owner, deployed MFA for all systems accessing client data, and encrypted storage for client financial information.

The SpaceTown IT Compliance Implementation

Week 1-2: Environment assessment identifying all client data locations and access points. Week 3: MFA deployment for Lacerte tax software, client portal, Microsoft 365, and VPN. Week 4: Workstation encryption using BitLocker across all 28 staff devices. Week 5: WISP development incorporating all required Safeguards Rule elements including risk assessment, access controls, service provider oversight, and incident response. Week 6: Training for all staff and WISP approval by firm managing partner.

Insurance Renewal and Ongoing Compliance

The CPA firm submitted the WISP and MFA attestation to their insurer — cyber coverage renewed at the same premium. SpaceTown IT continues as the firm’s managed IT provider maintaining ongoing GLBA compliance monitoring, annual WISP review, and quarterly security assessments.

GLBA Compliance for Houston Accountants

SpaceTown IT provides GLBA compliance for Houston CPA firms. See also GLBA Safeguards Rule services. Call (832) 304-9748.