If you are a plan sponsor, you set up retirement plans for your employees. Retirement benefit plan administrators harbor personal information of employees, like social security numbers and email addresses, in myriad electronic records. Plan sponsors and administrators are required to uphold the ERISA fiduciary duty from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which instructs administrators to preserve at least minimum standards to safeguard employees who are retirement plan participants. These provisions encompass protection from pending cyber threats. If this valuable information were to be unearthed by a cyber-criminal, employees could face grave financial or reputation consequences for the rest of their lives.
Retirement plan entities must prove they have a durable plan in place to swiftly respond to data breaches and mitigate associated damages. Plan sponsors must determine where the company is most at risk for exposure and craft procedures for how valuable data should be properly stored, managed, accessed, and transmitted. Congruently, plan sponsors must continuously update company technology and training manuals to keep in stride with the latest protective measures available to establishments. Discuss with third-party administrators about data security guidelines, internet privacy, and document retention to confirm you are taking the correct steps towards protecting your employee’s personal data.
Colonial Surety Company’s cyber liability insurance can help your company successfully manage data breaches. With our dedicated team of investigation and breach response, we can also indemnify and defend plan sponsors from regulatory actions or covered lawsuits. Our cyber liability insurance comes in our ERISA bond packages, with include ERISA fidelity bond coverage for your employees and fiduciary liability insurance for your company’s fiduciaries. Contact us today for help developing a cybersecurity plan perfect for your unique business.