This publish is a part of a sequence sponsored by AgentSync.
Information is on the core of the insurance coverage trade. From the smallest impartial businesses to the most important legacy carriers, insurance coverage organizations of all sizes home knowledge. This consists of distribution channel knowledge like the knowledge collected and saved to license and appoint insurance coverage producers and adjusters, in addition to any client knowledge these companies collected within the means of promoting insurance policies.
Yep, the insurance coverage trade just about runs on knowledge. Nonetheless, this reliance on delicate private and monetary info additionally makes insurance coverage organizations a major goal for cybersecurity assaults.
Cyber assault charges are up within the insurance coverage trade
Over the past decade, the insurance coverage trade has gone by way of a reasonably excessive digital transformation. Businesses, carriers, MGAs, and each different trade participant in between have migrated away from handbook workflows and legacy techniques in favor of extra sturdy digital options for his or her each day operations.
Insurance coverage organizations that prioritize tech modernization provide their workers, clients, and distribution companions a extra seamless expertise, however there’s a worth to progress. Because the insurance coverage sector migrates towards extra digital channels, the risk of cyber attacks increases exponentially.
As we spherical out Cybersecurity Consciousness Month, we figured now’s the time to supply an summary of a number of the high cybersecurity dangers insurance coverage organizations at the moment face together with a couple of greatest practices for shielding your knowledge and your backside line from an assault.
Key cybersecurity dangers within the insurance coverage sector
Information breaches
Relating to cyber assaults, knowledge breaches are a high concern and probably the most vital threats dealing with not solely insurance coverage organizations, however nearly each enterprise throughout each trade. Even big-name gamers like Apple and Verizon have fallen prey to knowledge breaches up to now. It is because hackers can entry and expose a corporation’s knowledge by way of plenty of completely different strategies, together with:
- Malware
- Insider threats
- Phishing
- Ransomware
- Utility vulnerabilities
- Password guessing
- And plenty of, many extra
In March of 2024, Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. experienced a data breach that compromised the non-public knowledge of greater than 28,000 of their clients. Cyber criminals obtained delicate info together with names, Social Safety numbers, financial institution accounts, and birthdates of Constancy policyholders by way of a hack at considered one of their third-party suppliers.
Past monetary losses, insurance coverage organizations can also face authorized liabilities, harm to their popularity, and lack of buyer and accomplice belief on account of a breach.
Social Engineering
You’d by no means give away delicate info to somebody you don’t know (we hope!) however what in case you thought the ask got here from somebody you knew and trusted? Social engineering happens when a cyber legal manipulates a person into giving up confidential info, usually by posing as somebody the person trusts. What can appear to be a innocent e mail from a coworker asking you to click on a hyperlink or obtain a doc, would possibly really be a intelligent approach for hackers to infiltrate your techniques and compromise your knowledge.
As soon as hackers achieve entry to a system by way of social engineering, they’ll rapidly deploy different assaults like distributing malware or knowledge breaches, inflicting much more monetary and reputational harm.
Theft and Fraud
The shift to extra digital channels and touchpoints means a big variety of monetary transactions within the insurance coverage trade happen on-line. Whereas this makes issues simpler and extra handy for everybody concerned in insurance coverage distribution, it additionally opens companies as much as a better danger of fraud.
Cybercriminals are more and more concentrating on insurance coverage corporations to commit fraud. From identification thefts to extra advanced schemes like claims manipulation, each year insurance fraud costs the industry an estimated $308 billion.
Shield your knowledge and your backside line by following these cybersecurity suggestions
Whereas no firm is one hundred pc resistant to a cyber assault, there are methods to reduce your danger. Insurance coverage organizations can comply with the following pointers to make sure their knowledge is locked down, compliant, and secure from exterior threats:
Tip No. 1: Require multi-factor authentication throughout all techniques
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has rapidly grow to be a regular of knowledge safety in lots of industries, and insurance coverage is not any exception. MFA ensures that earlier than a consumer logs right into a system they’ve gone by way of at the very least two completely different factors of authentication.
Usually, MFA includes a consumer getting into their commonplace login credentials together with a one-time passcode despatched to them through textual content or e mail. Having a number of identification verification checks makes it tougher for unauthorized people to sneak in by stopping attackers at a second authentication stage even when a password is compromised.
Tip No. 2: Prioritize ongoing safety consciousness coaching
As frontline defenders, workers play an important position in figuring out and mitigating dangers like phishing assaults, fraud, and knowledge breaches. Providing (or higher but, requiring) common coaching classes can equip your group with the information and abilities they should acknowledge potential threats.
By demonstrating a dedication to ongoing cyber-security coaching, you foster a tradition of vigilance at your group. And since we within the trade know the way rapidly issues can change and new improvements can come up, steady coaching is a should. Ongoing training ensures your workers keep updated on the most recent threats and greatest practices, reinforcing their understanding of compliance necessities and safety protocols.
Tip No. 3: Create an incident response plan
Within the unlucky occasion that your knowledge is compromised, it’s at all times a good suggestion to have a response plan in place. Somewhat than panicking publish cyber assault, making a plan for restoration is a proactive method that may assist reduce harm, scale back downtime, and protect your general popularity.
A well-defined plan improves preparedness by figuring out potential vulnerabilities and outlining methods for restoration. When crafting your plan, make certain to outline clear procedures and obligations for responding to completely different incidents. And don’t neglect to replace and check your plan often to make sure workers are acquainted with their roles.
Tip No. 4: Assess your third-party vendor knowledge hygiene
Utilizing third-party distributors is on the rise within the insurance coverage sector. With extra insurers and businesses partnering with third-party suppliers for at the very least one part of their digital transformation, a corporation’s knowledge safety success depends upon the safety and preparedness of any software program is companions with.
To make sure your techniques, in addition to any distributors you might accomplice with, are safe, compliant, and able to safeguarding delicate info, your group wants a stable safety framework. SOC 2 is a robust framework designed to assist companies navigate the advanced panorama of knowledge safety and regulatory compliance.
Extra particularly, a SOC 2 Sort II audit assesses any controls and processes a enterprise has associated to knowledge safety, availability, confidentiality, and privateness. Selecting distributors who’ve carried out a SOC 2 Sort II audit helps insurance coverage trade companies:
- Shield client knowledge
- Preserve compliance
- Construct buyer and accomplice belief
- Enhance operational effectivity
- Mitigate danger
- Achieve a aggressive benefit
And that’s simply to call a couple of of the advantages!
Information safety ought to by no means be an afterthought
With extra knowledge and extra breaches, the power to be resilient to cyber assaults is rapidly changing into a core requirement for insurance coverage organizations. As cyber threats proceed to evolve, prioritizing knowledge safety from the outset ensures that sturdy defenses are built-in throughout all operational processes.
One of the best ways to keep away from a cyber assault is to remain diligent in assessing and updating you group’s safety requirements and cyber-hygiene practices, together with that of any software program distributors you’re employed with.
When you’re contemplating partnering with AgentSync for extra fashionable and seamless producer licensing and compliance administration at your provider, company, or MGA/MGU, then you possibly can breathe a sigh of aid. Our merchandise are constructed on a zero-trust structure and we’re more than pleased to stroll you thru all of the methods during which we prioritize your knowledge safety. To be taught extra, check out a demo, or talk to an AgentSync expert as we speak.
Subjects
Cyber
Data Driven
