This submit is a part of a sequence sponsored by AgentSync.
Information is on the core of the insurance coverage business. From the smallest unbiased businesses to the biggest legacy carriers, insurance coverage organizations of all sizes home knowledge. This contains distribution channel knowledge like the data collected and saved to license and appoint insurance coverage producers and adjusters, in addition to any shopper knowledge these companies collected within the means of promoting insurance policies.
Yep, the insurance coverage business just about runs on knowledge. Nevertheless, 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 business
Over the past decade, the insurance coverage business has gone via a fairly excessive digital transformation. Companies, carriers, MGAs, and each different business participant in between have migrated away from handbook workflows and legacy techniques in favor of extra strong digital options for his or her day by day operations.
Insurance coverage organizations that prioritize tech modernization provide their workers, prospects, 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 danger of cyber assaults will increase exponentially.
As we spherical out Cybersecurity Consciousness Month, we figured now’s the time to offer an outline of among the high cybersecurity dangers insurance coverage organizations at the moment face together with a number of finest practices for safeguarding your knowledge and your backside line from an assault.
Key cybersecurity dangers within the insurance coverage sector
Information breaches
With regards to cyber assaults, knowledge breaches are a high concern and one of the vital threats going through not solely insurance coverage organizations, however nearly each enterprise throughout each business. Even big-name gamers like Apple and Verizon have fallen prey to knowledge breaches prior to now. It’s because hackers can entry and expose a corporation’s knowledge via plenty of totally different strategies, together with:
- Malware
- Insider threats
- Phishing
- Ransomware
- Utility vulnerabilities
- Password guessing
- And plenty of, many extra
In March of 2024, Constancy Investments Life Insurance coverage Co. skilled an information breach that compromised the non-public knowledge of greater than 28,000 of their prospects. Cyber criminals obtained delicate info together with names, Social Safety numbers, financial institution accounts, and birthdates of Constancy policyholders via a hack at one in every of their third-party suppliers.
Past monetary losses, insurance coverage organizations might also face authorized liabilities, injury to their popularity, and lack of buyer and companion 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 the event 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, typically by posing as somebody the person trusts. What can appear like a innocent e-mail from a coworker asking you to click on a hyperlink or obtain a doc, may really be a intelligent method for hackers to infiltrate your techniques and compromise your knowledge.
As soon as hackers acquire entry to a system via social engineering, they will rapidly deploy different assaults like distributing malware or knowledge breaches, inflicting much more monetary and reputational injury.
Theft and Fraud
The shift to extra digital channels and touchpoints means a big variety of monetary transactions within the insurance coverage business 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 the next danger of fraud.
Cybercriminals are more and more concentrating on insurance coverage firms to commit fraud. From identification thefts to extra complicated schemes like claims manipulation, every year insurance coverage fraud prices the business 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 minimize 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 change into an ordinary 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 via no less than two totally different factors of authentication.
Usually, MFA entails a consumer coming into their normal login credentials together with a one-time passcode despatched to them by way of 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 a significant 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 data and expertise 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 business 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 finest 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. Relatively than panicking submit cyber assault, making a plan for restoration is a proactive strategy that may assist decrease injury, cut back downtime, and protect your total popularity.
A well-defined plan improves preparedness by figuring out potential vulnerabilities and outlining methods for restoration. When crafting your plan, be sure that to outline clear procedures and tasks for responding to totally different incidents. And don’t overlook to replace and take a look at your plan frequently to make sure workers are aware of 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 no less than one element of their digital transformation, a corporation’s knowledge safety success will depend on the safety and preparedness of any software program is companions with.
To make sure your techniques, in addition to any distributors it’s possible you’ll companion with, are safe, compliant, and able to safeguarding delicate info, your group wants a stable safety framework. SOC 2 is a strong framework designed to assist companies navigate the complicated panorama of knowledge safety and regulatory compliance.
Extra particularly, a SOC 2 Kind 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 Kind II audit helps insurance coverage business companies:
- Shield shopper knowledge
- Preserve compliance
- Construct buyer and companion belief
- Enhance operational effectivity
- Mitigate danger
- Acquire a aggressive benefit
And that’s simply to call a number 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 turning into a core requirement for insurance coverage organizations. As cyber threats proceed to evolve, prioritizing knowledge safety from the outset ensures that strong defenses are built-in throughout all operational processes.
The easiest way 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.
In the event you’re contemplating partnering with AgentSync for extra fashionable and seamless producer licensing and compliance administration at your service, company, or MGA/MGU, then you may 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 wherein we prioritize your knowledge safety. To study extra, take a look at a demo, or discuss to an AgentSync professional at the moment.
Subjects
Cyber
Information Pushed
