Fusion Accounts has been developed with security at the forefront. We use the same encryption techniques used by all major internet banking facilities and online e-commerce transactions.
How does the security of Fusion Accounts compare to desktop software?
There is a misconception among businesses that data is more secure on your computer than on the web.
In using a web hosted solution your data is not stored on your computer, so if your laptop or computer is lost or stolen no one will be able to access your data without a login. Equally important is that you will still be able to access your data from another computer.
Online applications are much more secure than emailing your accounting data to your accountant or bookkeeper or giving out discs with your data on it.
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Fusion Accounts |
In Office e.g. Sage line 50 |
Virus protection |
AVG virus scanners updated twice daily running continuous scans.
Dedicated servers |
Depends on user installation.
Susceptible to infection from user interaction with emails and internet browsers. |
Firewalling |
FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) compliant firewalls. |
Depends on user installation – but typically non FIPS routers. |
Backups |
Continuous data replication across multiple disks and servers.
Hourly backup to enable rollback to point in time.
Automated offsite backups. |
No replication.
Manual backup subject to office processes. |
Encryption. |
Strong 128 BIT SSL encryption across network.
Passwords encrypted with one way hash so can never be retrieved. |
No network encryption.
Password cracker available on internet. (http://download.cnet.com/Sage-Password-Recovery/3000-2092_4-10517626.html) |
Availability |
Multiple web servers and database servers ensure no loss of service in the event of failure |
Typically new servers and installations would be required with associated outage. |
Patch policy |
All priority security patches automatically applied on a daily basis. |
Subject to office processes. |
How is my data secured?
- Industry standard encryption secures the data between your browser and the servers in the data centre.
- Multiple physical layers of networking and firewalls together with up to data intrusion detection and prevention systems protect the data.
- Sensitive data such as passwords are further encrypted with a “one way” algorithm meaning they cannot be read.
- Fusion Accounts is hosted by BT in their data centre. BT Ireland Managed Services currently hold ISO27001 certification and have done since 2005.
- ISO/IEC 27001 requires that management: “Systematically examines the organization's information security risks, taking account of the threats, vulnerabilities and impacts; Designs and implements a coherent and comprehensive suite of information security controls and/or other forms of risk treatment (such as risk avoidance or risk transfer) to address those risks that it deems unacceptable; and Adopts an overarching management process to ensure that the information security controls continue to meet the organization's information security needs on an ongoing basis.”
- All data is simultaneously written to two physical servers. Each of these servers “stripes” the data across 3 disks. The database is backed up onto local store every hour and these backups are copied off site every day.
Accessing your data
- With Fusion Accounts you can access your data anytime, anywhere.
- Fusion provides businesses with a ‘Data Export Facility’. Users can export their entire data set at anytime. This report is in a standard CSV format.
Where is my Data Stored?
Fusion Accounts is hosted by BT in their data centre. BT Ireland Managed Services currently hold ISO27001 certification and have done since 2005.
