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When it comes to cyberattacks, websites of financial service providers are the prime targets.
That is due to the large amount of sensitive user information that can be stolen from them.
Websites of insurance providers also fall under this category, and today we’ll discuss cybersecurity for this group of businesses.
If you want to ensure the security of your insurance company’s website and other infrastructure, please read the seven steps outlined below till the end.
Let’s get started:
#1. Enforce the usage of strong passwords
Strong passwords are the fundamental requirement for security of anything. From your smartphone to web server, if you use a strong password, you can make the job of cybercriminals much more difficult.
And it’s not just you who should use a strong password – everyone involved with your insurance company, including employees and users – should use strong passwords.
Nowadays, features and tools are available that you can use to force everyone to generate a strong password. It may cause some initial trouble to others, but that trouble is nothing in comparison to the problems that can come with a hack.
#2. Use encryption to protect customer data
As an insurance company, you’ll collect a lot of data from your customers. From their health-related information to their addresses to credit/debit card data, there’s a lot of sensitive information that you will have to store.
Encryption is essential to protect this information. Whichever server you use to store and access this data should be appropriately encrypted.
Also, if data is moved between two servers, it should run in an encrypted state. You should use AES 256-bit encryption to protect your company’s data because this is the most reliable type of encryption meant primarily for the safety of sensitive financial data.
#3. Install SSL certificate
By installing an SSL certificate, you can ensure that the data of your customers can’t be stolen while it’s being transmitted between you and them. You must install it, because if you don’t, then you’re putting the security of your insurance customer data at risk.
You’re also losing sales, because browsers mark your website as not secure, thus dissuading your potential customers from dealing with you. Therefore, an SSL certificate is a must.
If you are running multiple domains then, when you purchase SSL cert, you should go for a SAN SSL Certificate. The benefit of going with these certificates is that it allows you to specify as many hostnames as possible, thus greatly simplifying your corporation’s SSL configuration.
#4. Comply with global cybersecurity standards
Since you’re in the business of insurance, you might already have heard of PCI DSS standards which have been established to protect online payments from frauds and scams.
You must comply with these standards and other essential cybersecurity standards that apply in the countries where you operate.
If you don’t comply with them, you may not only be having problems in obtaining other necessary services (i.e., payment gateway, banking services, etc.) for your business but also be entirely disallowed from doing any business activity in some countries.
So, you must comply with global cybersecurity standards.
#5. Keep checking for vulnerabilities
Ensuring cybersecurity is not an event – it’s a constant journey. Despite having followed all the steps mentioned above, you should keep checking your site on regular intervals for vulnerabilities.
That is because the cybersecurity landscape keeps changing, and new vulnerabilities emerge every day.
You should, therefore, have a dedicated team of cybersecurity professionals to check the various technical aspects of your Health insurance broker regularly. And if any vulnerabilities are ever found, they should be fixed quickly.
#6. Enable real-time threat alerts
Just as it’s necessary to prepare for not being attacked, it’s also required to plan for the situations when you have been attacked. According to Accenture’s 2018 State of Cyber Resilience Report for Insurers, 45% of cyberattacks are not detected until a week (and 9% not until a month).
Detecting a cyberattack early on can help you thwart it before it does any significant damage to your company and customers.
Therefore, you should enable real-time threat alerts on your company’s website and other important servers/ systems.
Many tools are available to help you enable this type of warnings.
If you have an internal content management software for your site, then maybe you should get this functionality built into it.
#7. Properly back up your data
It is another thing you need to do to prepare yourself for the situations in which you’ve been attacked.
All data of your insurance company should be adequately backed up to immediately migrate your website and other online assets to another server if needed.
It can help in minimizing the damage that can be caused by a hacked server.
And again – follow the step #2 while creating a backup – all your data should be encrypted in backup too so it can’t be stolen from there!
Conclusion:
These seven tips will help you keep your insurance website and other systems secured from cyberattacks.
You can also use any additional tips that you know to secure your internet infrastructure from attacks.
But these are the bare minimum steps that you’ll have to take. You can think of these steps as the foundations of a robust cybersecurity strategy.
So, follow them and protect your business from the prying eyes of hackers.
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