Security and Trust

Governance

TaxNow’s Security and Privacy teams establish policies and controls, monitor compliance with those controls, and prove our security and compliance to third-party auditors.

Our policies are based on the following foundational principles:

1.

Access should be limited to only those with a legitimate business need and granted based on the principle of least privilege.

2.

Security controls should be implemented and layered according to the principle of defense-in-depth.

3.

Security controls should be applied consistently across all areas of the enterprise.

4.

The implementation of controls should be iterative, continuously maturing across the dimensions of improved effectiveness, increased auditability, and decreased friction.

Security and Compliance at TaxNow

TaxNow is in pursuit of a SOC 2 Type II attestation. Our SOC 2 Type II progress and status are available via email.

Data Protection

Data at rest

All datastores with customer data, in addition to S3 buckets, are encrypted at rest. Sensitive collections and tables also use row-level encryption. This means the data is encrypted even before it hits the database so that neither physical access, nor logical access to the database, is enough to read the most sensitive information.

Secret management

Application secrets are encrypted and stored securely via AWS Secrets Manager and Parameter Store, and access to these values is strictly limited.

Data in transit

TaxNow uses TLS 1.2 or higher everywhere data is transmitted over potentially insecure networks. We also use features such as HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) to maximize the security of our data in transit. Server TLS keys and certificates are managed by AWS.

Product Security

Penetration testing

TaxNow engages with one of the best penetration testing consulting firms in the industry at least annually.

All areas of the TaxNow product and cloud infrastructure are in-scope for these assessments, and source code is fully available to the testers in order to maximize the effectiveness and coverage.

Vulnerability scanning

TaxNow requires vulnerability scanning at key stages of our Secure Development Lifecycle (SDLC):

Static analysis (SAST) testing of code during pull requests and on an ongoing basis

Software composition analysis (SCA) to identify known vulnerabilities in our software supply chain

Malicious dependency scanning to prevent the introduction of malware into our software supply chain

External attack surface management (EASM) continuously running to discover new external-facing assets

Network vulnerability scanning on aperiod basis

Dynamic analysis (DAST) of running applications

Enterprise Security

Endpoint protection

All corporate devices are centrally managed and are equipped with mobile device management software and anti-malware protection. Endpoint security alerts are monitored with 24/7/365 coverage. We use MDM software to enforce secure configuration of endpoints, such as disk encryption, screen lock configuration, and software updates.

Security education

TaxNow provides comprehensive security training to all employees upon onboarding and annually through educational modules within Vanta’s own platform. In addition, all new employees attend a mandatory live onboarding session centered around key security principles. All new engineers also attend a mandatory live onboarding session focused on secure coding principles and practices. Vanta’s security team shares regular threat briefings with employees to inform them of important security and safety-related updates that require special attention or action.

Vendor Security

TaxNow uses a risk-based approach to vendor security. Factors which influence the inherent risk rating of a vendor include:

Access to customer and corporate data

Integration with production environments

Potential damage to the TaxNow brand

Once the inherent risk rating has been determined, the security of the vendor is evaluated in order to determine a residual risk rating and an approval decision for the vendor.

Data Privacy

At TaxNow, data privacy is a first-class priority—we strive to be trustworthy stewards of all sensitive data.

Regulatory compliance

TaxNow evaluates updates to regulatory and emerging frameworks continuously to evolve our program.

Privacy Policy

View TaxNow’s Privacy Policy