We’re living in a digital world. It’s estimated that by 2040, 95 percent of purchases will be via online methods. And with good reason – digital purchasing is faster, more efficient, and less expensive for both merchant and buyer. But there is still a part of digital business that looms: cyber-attacks on your insurance agency systems.
It’s reported that by 2018 nearly 70 percent of businesses experienced a cyber-attack. Even scarier, a Nationwide survey showed only 9 percent of companies said they were victims of an attack when in fact, after seeing a list of harmful activity, at least 50 percent had experienced one. Chances are those businesses didn’t know how to prevent an attack, either.
Get more detailed info on protecting your agency in our Cyber Security and Data Protection eGuide
Knowing the Threats
The first step to protecting your agency and its data is knowing what threats are out there. The most common threats are:
- Viruses infecting systems and destroying data
- Hackers breaking into systems and stealing personal data
- Employees leaving systems open for passersby to see and steal info
Unfortunately, the last threat is more common than you may think. IBM and Ponemon’s Institute’s Cost of a Data Breach Study showed 27 percent of data attacks were due to human error while 25 percent were a system glitch. That’s over half of cyber weaknesses falling squarely in the laps of the victims.
Read more on how to keep your agency safe from cybersecurity experts in the industry
Implementing Insurance Agency System Solutions
The good news is you have control over these vulnerabilities. You can decrease your likelihood of attack through a few simple agency system solutions:
- Limit access to sensitive data
- Require multi-character encrypted passwords that change regularly to access data
- Conduct background checks on employees who access sensitive information
- Educate employees on best practices, such as only accessing data on private networks
- House data on a secure, off-site server with redundant back-up and outsourced security monitoring
- Regularly test your security systems, including drills for employees
- Purchase liability insurance for your agency in case of unpreventable threats
Read the Top 4 Reasons to House Your Insurance Data Offsite on our blog
Finding a Partner You Can Trust
At SIS, we always have security top of mind. Every Partner Platform upgrade is coupled with security testing, ensuring we’re handing our Partner agencies a safe, secure, effective tool. And we leverage state-of-the-art technology to hold customer data in facilities with geographic redundancy, data encryption, and backups compliant with industry and government standards.
We work hard to earn and keep our Partner agencies’ trust. See what they have to say about our security and service: check out our Client Stories page to find out more.
Sarah Deak has been contributing to the SIS team since 2013, covering topics like agency perpetuation, workflow improvements, data security, and marketing. She has a background in small business, working with organizations to improve their online presence and client engagement. Sarah also writes for the SIS newsletters and website, and counts herself lucky to hear from our many passionate, hard-working clients for our client stories. Her favorite part about working for SIS are the dedicated, service-minded people.