Four Fast Steps to Data Security

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There is a critical lack of basic data security protocols in the Canadian P&C insurance industry. As brokers adopt e-commerce strategies, they must take steps to protect their clients’ personal information.

Fortunately, those protocols are called “basic” for a reason – they’re easy to teach, learn and implement, and you can have these four in place by the end of the week:

1. Choose long passwords (at least 12 characters) that are easy to remember, and ask your IT provider to require regular updates to log-in credentials. These steps deter hackers who use the "brute force" strategy of auto-generating thousands of passwords and log-in attempts.
2. Establish secure connections and network firewalls for employees working remotely. One such solution is a virtual private network (VPN). Remote access is a useful productivity tool, but unsecured connections are easy to exploit.
3. Implement transport layer security (TLS) email encryption. This affordable solution automatically protects emails sent between you and other TLS-enabled parties, reducing the risk of interception. Advise your customers to do the same. (More on CSIO eMail Security)
4. Educate staff on data security. What responsibility do you have to protect customer information? What security procedures does your brokerage have? Knowledge is power — share it.

Related links

• CSIO: eMail Security
• Article: The Industry Solution for eMail Security
• Article: TLS Provides TLC for Client Data
• Article: A Small Price to Pay for Substantial eMail Security
• Article: Providing Client Peace of Mind with TLS
• Article: TLS: A Small Price to Pay for Data Protection
• Article: You've Got (Secure) Mail