Why is data security particularly critical for public accounting firms?

Public accounting firms handle extensive PII and tax data. If a hacker submits a fraudulent tax return before the legitimate one, the IRS accepts it as valid, forcing individuals to fight to recover their tax refund. This makes monitoring who accesses, modifies, and moves data essential for protecting clients.

How does Varonis detect abnormal user behavior?

Varonis operates in a learning mode to establish baseline activity patterns for each user. If someone typically accesses 100 files daily but suddenly touches 10,000 files, the system recognizes this as abnormal behavior outside the baseline and generates alerts that can be tailored to specific criteria.

Securing Tax Data with Varonis at GBQ

Name: Securing Tax Data with Varonis at GBQ
Uploaded: 2026-04-22T18:43:49-04:00
Duration: 1 min 59 s
Description: TL;DR GBQ uses Varonis to protect sensitive tax data and PII from identity theft threats, where fraudulent tax returns can be submitted before legitimate ones. Varonis establishes behavioral baselines for users and alerts on abnormal activity, such as ...

Varonis

04/22/2026

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TL;DR

GBQ uses Varonis to protect sensitive tax data and PII from identity theft threats, where fraudulent tax returns can be submitted before legitimate ones.
Varonis establishes behavioral baselines for users and alerts on abnormal activity, such as accessing 10,000 files instead of a typical 100 files per day.
The solution provides automated remediation and monitoring capabilities that Microsoft Purview and other built-in tools cannot match, eliminating the need for 24/7 manual security monitoring.

Summary

This customer testimonial features a security leader from GBQ, a public accounting firm, discussing how they use Varonis to protect sensitive tax data and personally identifiable information (PII). The speaker explains the critical threat of identity theft in public accounting, where fraudulent tax returns can be submitted before legitimate ones, making data security paramount. GBQ implemented Varonis to monitor data access, detect abnormal user behavior, and automate security responses. The solution's baseline learning capability allows it to establish normal activity patterns and alert on deviations, such as a user suddenly accessing thousands of files instead of their typical hundred. The speaker emphasizes that Varonis provides capabilities that Microsoft's built-in tools like Purview cannot match, particularly in automated remediation and behavioral analytics. The implementation has eliminated the need for 24/7 manual monitoring and provided peace of mind that sensitive client data is properly protected and tracked throughout its lifecycle.

Chapters

0:00 - Identity Theft Threat in Accounting
0:23 - GBQ's Data Security Challenges
1:01 - Behavioral Baseline Detection
1:31 - Varonis vs Microsoft Tools

Key Quotes

0:06 "With the IRS, the first tax return that gets submitted is considered to be the tax return."
0:40 "You would have to go through a lot of other hoops like Microsoft Purview, but it's honestly just not as good as Varonis."
1:44 "Even the built-in ones from Microsoft, they're just not as good as what Varonis has."

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