CYBERSECURITY: WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW CAN HURT YOU By Paul Kapadia We all experienced how the pandemic changed personal and professional aspects of our lives. As the world quickly adapted to the situation to accommodate the constraints created by COVID-19, we leveraged technology for operational flexibility and efficiencies. For our industry, like many others, remote working was the only viable option, and we all availed that to the fullest with the help of technology.
NEW TECHNOLOGY, NEW RISKS In general, businesses survived, and many of us did better than what we anticipated. But we achieved this at the cost of negotiating the privacy and security of information – on a personal as well as a professional front. Personally, we adapted, from online grocery shopping, to banking and signing important documents online. Some of these changes that we assumed to be temporary are now here to
stay permanently. On a professional front, businesses have realized the true potential of technology and how it could be effectively leveraged for cost savings and growth. Unfortunately, this hasty transition is exactly what cyber criminals were hoping for, and they are taking full advantage of it. As seen in recent events, they have been targeting insurance agencies purely because of the quality and quantity of data they can get with relatively less effort … hence why the overall risk for agencies has increased significantly.
BEYOND TRADITIONAL IT INFRASTRUCTURE Every business has an IT team (internal or external) that manages the IT infrastructure needs and IT security for that business. Yet despite their efforts and the Continued on page 17 15
