CyberSecurity Risk ManagementOptima Tax Relief Partners with TrustNet to Enhance IT Security and Safeguard Sensitive Data
Snapshot
Tax resolution firm Optima Tax Relief partnered with TrustNet to upgrade its IT security infrastructure. The process kicked off with a technology audit, risk assessment, and vulnerability scan to provide all the data required for a comprehensive and accurate roadmap. Based on the roadmap, a proprietary cybersecurity platform was deployed to provide 24/7 protection and a 360°-visibility over compliance and security risks.
The Problem
Being near-perfect in one field doesn’t mean you’re an expert at everything. Rostered by taxation lawyers, certified public accountants, and other astute professionals, Optima Tax Relief excels at its core business but recognises its limitations, with in-house IT security among the most critical capabilities the company lacks.
To fill the gap, Optima Tax Relief decided to look for a technology partner with a track record that matches its own. Anything less is too risky – especially for firms with the same industry, location, and client demographic as Optima Tax Relief.
Given the already exacting regulatory climate it needs to navigate, Optima Tax Relief also faces another potentially crippling hazard: cybercrime. With Optima Tax Relief holding a trove of extremely sensitive data such as their clients’ tax identification numbers and social security numbers, any breach on their system can be disastrous for both the tax resolution firm and its customers.
Client Introduction
Adept at balancing ledgers, Optima Tax Relief appears to get all the numbers right. The company has got multiple Stevie Awards for Excellence for three consecutive years, including 2022, the California-based tax resolution firm also received Top Workplace honors the same year, a feat it has replicated unbroken for eight years running.
Admired by staff and adored by customers, Optima Tax employs hundreds of professionals and has resolved more than a billion dollars in tax discrepancies for their clients, passionately helping people improve their financial situations since 2011.
The Solution
When Optima Tax Relief decided to talk with TrustNet, our team responded with the top item in our engagement protocol, we listened. That’s because different customers – even those in the same line of business – have unique compliance and cybersecurity needs, making the exact requirements of their businesses difficult to pin down unless a thorough and transparent conversation takes place.
We understand where Optima Tax is coming from because we already serve some of the leading players in the financial services industry. Even then, Optima’s case certainly differed in several ways and in many areas, the solution for which will require much fine-tuning to be optimally cost-effective for the firm.
To start things right, TrustNet conducted a preliminary information security audit to determine Optima Tax’s overall security posture. We then probed its processes, networks, and endpoints for weaknesses and vulnerabilities to help our technical planners map out an air-tight security layer for the tax resolution firm.
Because the stakes are unusually high for businesses in the financial services industry, the solution we envisioned for Optima Tax adopts a Zero Trust posture. On green signal, we implemented the security infrastructure, consisting of onsite hardware appliances as well as cloud-based software systems that empower security administrators to remotely detect anomalies in network traffic, deploy AI-driven agents as force multiplier, and pre-emptively respond to any threat.
The Results
On its website, Optima Tax Relief promises to provide a safe and secure site that its customers can trust with their sensitive data.
That promise is made stronger by a trust-based partnership and a proprietary cybersecurity platform that significantly improves Optima Tax’s overall security posture, enables a 360* visibility over emerging compliance and security risks, and provides a reassuring 24/7 monitoring and protection for the resources, networks, and systems that allow Optima Tax to focus on improving the lives of its clients.
About TrustNet Inc
TrustNet helps businesses build trusted relationships with their customers, partners, and employees by providing cybersecurity and compliance services. We are a leading provider of managed security, consulting, and compliance services. Since 2003, TrustNet has been a strategic partner helping clients ensure the security and integrity of their businesses. From our headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, TrustNet serves mid-size and large organizations, both public and private, across multiple industries, in the United States, and around the world.
TrustNet is a 2022 Global Infosec Awards Winner and the Editors Choice for Managed Security Service Provider.
