Hello Friends,
Insurance at its core is the business of providing protection. Whether it’s protecting a business or protecting a family, insurance is the best tool for risk transfer. Protecting data is a new skill and as professionals in the risk management business we should be experts. I have regularly made a case that the insurance industry is the largest custodian of personal information. Fortunately all of the spotlight for privacy and cybersecurity is on social media companies and large enterprise organizations. Derek Lovrenich, CEO of Raterspot, coined the term “Don’t be a Zucker” with regards to safeguarding customers information. So how do you and I continue the tradition of protection that the insurance industry is known for? I believe it starts with education.
I’m not proud to say that the insurance industry as a whole is not very tech savvy. My first job at an agency 20 years ago had me fixing computers regularly. The data breach techniques were pretty unsophisticated back then and most problems came from circulating a bad email or visiting a unsecure websites. In recent years these attacks have increased in frequency and complexity. It is impossible to prevent all types of cyber attacks but you can at least practice some prevention.
Tip #1
Keep your software updated. Don’t ignore that reminder. Most of the computer problems I have had to troubleshoot could of been prevented by this simple practice. Start your week and finish it off with an update check.
Tip #2
Backup all your files on a cloud drive. There are many solutions out there pick one you like and use it religiously. I personally use OneDrive because it syncs the files from my local machine to the cloud. The benefits of a backup are too numerous to count. When your computer does go down you will be glad to know you kept a copy of all those files.
Tip #3
Read about best practices to prevent data breach. There are thousands of guides and hundreds of millions of dollars spent by insurance companies you work with to provide you all the resources you need to be cyber smart. Not only will it help you when you learn something new, but it can also help your clients when you share this knowledge.
Tip #4
Consider a password manager. If you are like me and hate being told to make a random password all the time then this may be a solution for you. I do not want to promote anyone over the other but LastPass and Dashlane are two well known and respected services.
Be prepared for the shift to privacy. GDPR and CCPA have made recent headlines but this is just the start. The largest companies in the history of mankind were built on selling data and as consumers we are starting to figure it out. It may be time for your organization to consider reviewing your practices on how you are storing clients information and also informing them what you are doing with it. This has multiple benefits. One, It helps your customers know why you need the information. Two, it helps you create a repeatable process. Three, it will force a culture change in your organization to one that focuses on privacy. Lastly, and in no way is this an all-encompassing list of benefits, is that it will create trust between you and your customers. By showing your clients you have a process to secure their information, you are performing an often overlooked fiduciary responsibility.
Tackling the privacy and cybersecurity challenges from a future perspective appeals to my inner nerd. Our insurance innovation lab InsurEco developed a product called the InsureBio. The app has been released on Google Play and ITunes for over a year now. The purpose of the technology is to give control of the insurance data back to the person who owns it, the insured. When the insured creates an insurance biography they are able to create a repository of commonly used data points which are used to obtain insurance aka complete an insurance application. Rather than answering the same questions over and over the insured creates one profile and then updates the information as needed. InsureBio also verifies this data with third party data warehouses such as government licensing entities. In addition to insurance application data, InsureBio also provides a document storage wallet for policies and claims history. When the data is needed to be used to obtain insurance, the insured gives the permission to the insurance company on a need to know basis. The goal is to give the insured control of their data as they build an insurance score that can be used to provide better insurance pricing and an overall better customer experience.
Do you need help developing a cybersecurity and privacy plan? Do you have any ideas or innovations that you would like to build? Let’s talk and transform our industry together!
Thank you for the investment of your time. I hope to give you a good return on our relationship.
