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AvaTax World Class Security |
Core expertise,
tireless paranoia. Security is of paramount importance.
Avalara understands this from the top of the organization.
The CEO and COO previously held high-level management positions
at Check Point Software Technologies, the worldwide leader
in securing the Internet. We know that in a service environment,
where Avalara is hosting your business information, your
data must never be compromised. From its inception, the
AvaTax service was designed with this in mind. Our internal
development team worked in conjunction with experienced
security consultants to architect and build a world-class,
secure network service implementation. Ongoing, we actively
review our systems and procedures, enlisting the efforts
of penetration assessment and auditing firms. In addition,
we have an advisory group that contains security experts
who have worked in major security organizations like Check
Point, Cisco and Watchguard. In short, the Avalara design
team has extensive enterprise-level experience, and approaches
data security with tireless paranoia.
Macro-view security highlights. Avalara's approach to security
includes the following:
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Experienced, professional design, implementation
and on-going maintenance Industry-leading technologies
deployed in multi-layered architecture with overlapping
checks and correlation algorithms |
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Ongoing assessment and deployment of new, proven security
technologies |
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Monitoring and evaluation of emerging Internet security
developments and threats |
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Redundancy at all points within the infrastructure, increasing
both security and reliability |
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Physical security. The stability and security of
AvaTax is far greater than that of the Internet, your client's
computer systems, or any specific location. Our datacenters are
co-located in carrier-class networking facilities that provide
24 hour security, photo and biometric ID, redundant power and
HVAC, and other services needed to ensure that our systems are
up 7x24.
Data encryption. All communications between your systems and
the AvaTax service use the strongest encryption available, including
128-bit VeriSign SSL and 1024-bit RSA public keys. Our service
will not respond without first instantiating this secure "pipe" and
then validating identity via our User Authentication scheme.
AvaTax Client Authentication. The AvaTax client uses a 1-way
hash algorithm that ensures the identity of the client and eliminates
spoofing. The client ID and password are passed securely via
the data encryption pipe.
User authentication. Access to the AvaTax Administration Console
is available through a two-step authentication process with two
distinct username/password pairs. First, a user must be authenticated
into the Avalara User Center. Once authenticated, the user initiates
a second level login process with a new username/password combination
to the AvaTax Administration Console. The applications enforce
the use of strong passwords. For added security, the session
key is automatically scrambled and reestablished in the background
at regular intervals.
Access control and defense. AvaTax employs a multi-layer firewall
architecture with technology from industry-leading vendors. Client
access to the AvaTax web service is controlled through a first-layer
of firewalls. Access between AvaTax front-line web services and
historical data stores is controlled through a second-layer of
defense with another layer of firewalls. Additionally, users
can never directly access any resources behind the second-layer
- all requests are managed by application logic and security
from the first-layer. In addition, Avalara actively monitors
log and traffic activity looking for active security threats. |
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How AvaTax Protects your Data: |
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When a new invoice is created, The AvaTax
Client (a small file which runs in the background of
your accounting system) connects to the AvaTax Service
Farm via SSL. AvaTax checks the customer's address against
Avalara's US Postal Service certified (CASS) address
database (updated weekly) and corrects any errors in
the address, automatically puts the address into correct
format including zip + 4, and verifies that it is indeed
a deliverable address. This is called Address Validation,
and it is the key to correct identification of the customer's
tax jurisdiction. |
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SSL encryption passes your ID and key securely to the
AvaTax Service Farm ensuring your identity and protecting
your real-time validation and calculation transactions. |
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Historical transaction data is then moved to the AvaTax
reporting database that resides behind another layer
of firewall security. Your data and surrounding transactions
are stored layers away from hackers. |
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Security tools continually watch for intrusion attempts,
actively blocking intruders from reaching critical services
or data. |
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Within Avalara's Service Farm and datastore, data is
continually backed up locally, as well as off-site, following
industry standards for best-practice. Complete disaster
control and recovery procedures ensure 7/24/365 protection
and uptime. |
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Redundancy at all points within the infrastructure, increasing
both security and reliability |
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| Back to AvaTax Connect |
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Questions? Please call us at (949) 583-9500 x2500 or email us at
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