HOW DO I KNOW IF MY AGENCY IS CYBER-SECURE?

Independent insurance staggering 37 billion records agencies, as holders of critical increasing by 141% from personally-identifiable 2019* . Even more concerning information (PII), truly are the - the Finance & Insurance target of cyber criminals – sector grew to be the third These nefarious entities have most targeted of all long ago stopped 'shot- industries, accounting for gunning' across all businesses, over 12% of all breaches. This and now focus on those that is ahead of Manufacturing, they know have the valuable Retail, Education. data from which they can sell and profit. There is certainly no shortage of news and confusion around And the pandemic has not cybercrime – insurance slowed their focus – by company data breaches, October of 2020, the number independent insurance agency of records exposed reached a ransomware attacks, business email compromise, spoofing, the list goes on.

All this considered, we need to take this focus on our industry seriously; we need to prepare and prevent incursions as best possible. ACT is your partner in providing insights, education, real resources, and links to industry cyber service providers to help your agency be as cyber-ready as possible.

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Add to the mix the myriad cyber compliance requirements imposed upon insurance agencies by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the California Online Privacy Protection Act, NY DFS, as well as additional states adopting versions of the NAIC Cybersecurity Recommendations, and agency personnel are left with confusion on what to do and how to get started.

Late in 2020, ACT released our Agency Cyber Guide 3.0 –a free comprehensive resource that includes a breakdown of the regulations and descriptions, as well as provides a 12-step compliance roadmap that agents can use to chart their way through the admittedly confusing cyber terrain.

But in covering all these insights and providing corresponding cyber resources, we realize it still can be difficult to clearly assess where your agency stands when it comes to cyber-readiness.

That's why our ACT Security Issues work group immediately began work on a quick and concise “Agency Cyber-Readiness SelfAssessment" that will help you not only clarify your agency's preparedness and understand the critical areas still needing action, but will also point back to key resources within the Agency Cyber Guide 3.0.

You can access the CyberReadiness Self-Assessment from the Agency Cyber Guide 3.0 home page or going directly to the assessment by clicking HERE.

* Source – Risk-Based Security, 2020 Year End Data Breach Quick View Report