The internet as a whole has come a long way since it’s humble beginnings as a military project known as ARPANET in the United States, developing from a simple communication and collaboration platform into a worldwide web, interlinking the entire globe and fostering developments that no human could possibly ever predict or conceive. However, just as the internet has brought benefits to the globe, whether that is linking people together from all across the globe, or storing, processing, and sending information at lightspeed. However, the internet’s development also has it’s negatives; more specifically, it can be used by malicious actors to hijack key data from insurance companies, whether that is hijacking consumer data and exposing thousands of people’s personal information, locking certain files by using ransomware and forcing people to pay a certain amount of money in order to even be able to access their own information in the first place, or even disrupting entire networks in general, whether that is causing computers to go offline intentionally, or use them as botnets in order to spread malware, creating nothing short of absolute chaos.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. Every time malicious actors find a way to try to disrupt a businesses’ livelihood, there is just as much effort finding countermeasures by cybersecurity companies, and there are certainly many ways in which investing in cybersecurity can help to protect data, especially when applied to insurance companies.
But why insurance companies?
Insurance companies are a prime target for malicious actors and hackers, and that is because they are hotspots for collecting thousands of people’s personal information, such as their names, addresses, and social security numbers, as well as financial information, such as their banking accounts and credit scores. In fact, these attacks could even lead to fines according to data production laws, such as DFS’ 23 NYCC Part 500 and NAIC Model Laws for failing to implement a proper cybersecurity program, as well as potential lawsuits by frustrated and furious customers, who could only watch as their identities and life savings are ripped from then in an instant, causing the company to lose trust completely as they have proven that they cannot handle themselves whatsoever.
It’s clear that insurance companies have great importance in the world by the information that they store, and they need to take their cybersecurity measures seriously.
How can Cybersecurity protect Insurance Data?
- Data Encryption: One of the best ways to ensure that data doesn’t get hijacked and stolen is to make sure that malicious actors cannot even access the data in the first place. Data Encryption essentially scrambles the data and locks it behind a “key,” ensuring that the data cannot be read without the correct key to descramble the data. In this way, even if the data is accessed, it will be completely useless as it will just be a string of random symbols and letters.
- Multi-Factor Authentication: Although a rather simple security measure, having an MFA System can prove to be a difficult roadblock to hackers, even with proper passwords, whether that is a facial recognition system or a code-based system requiring a randomly generated code.
- Role-Based Permissions and Access Controls: Simply having a system to ensure that sensitive and critical info is restricted to those who actually need that info, ensuring that not every single employee has access to the entire data library of the company can prove to be effective in mitigating potential cybersecurity attacks, reducing the total amount of collateral damage by ensuring that there are less targets for malicious actors to strike in the first place.
- Endpoint Protection: This ensures that laptops and phones that connect to the company network are protected just as much as any other piece of technology in the company field, ensuring that hackers cannot use potential breaches in remote devices in order to wreck havoc in the company, even with otherwise well-protected technology. This is particularly useful for remote setups, as people are starting to transition away from office work and instead focus on doing their jobs at their homes.
- Penetration Testing: Simulated attacks can test the defenses of a company’s cybersecurity system far before an actual attack by real people can occur, allowing companies to diagnose and rectify issues with the system as a whole in order to ensure it is in tip-top shape when actual hackers attempt to attack the system, only to find themselves unable to breach their defenses whatsoever.
What other developments are there?
Thanks to the development of artificial intelligence, companies can also apply AI-Assisted cybersecurity into their systems, allowing for increased security even beyond typical countermeasures.
- Anomaly Detection: AI can detect and spot unusual patterns and behaviors, such as a login attempt from foreign or strange locations, and they could then be sent over to administrators or trusted individuals in order to review these attempts and crush the attack before it even starts.
- Threat Intelligence: Thanks to machine learning, AI can help to predict and diagnose threats far more quickly and with much less hesitation than a typical human can, taking note of specific patterns that malicious actors follow and blocking them far before a person could even begin to analyze the whole situation.
- Quarantine Responses: In case a real threat begins to consume the entire system, the AI can detect and then quarantine the threat before it is allowed to spread, hence ensuring that a localized threat doesn’t become a globalized issue.
In conclusion…
Cybersecurity plays a massive role in the day-to-day workings of insurance companies, and while cybersecurity does provide a ton of benefits to the average company, it must not be understated that without constant vigilance and a willingness to provide strong security measures against malicious actors, not only are the companies themselves at risk, but the thousands of customers who had put their trust in the company as a whole. After all, what is a company without it’s customers?