When trying to determine where the next cyber attacker will strike, it’s important to understand what type of information hackers are hungry for. Retirement plans check all of an attacker’s boxes, as benefit plan data contains personal information instrumental in identity theft, and plans also involve the insecure transmission of data as plan sponsors often have weak cybersecurity protections.
Plan sponsors, in many cases, are in the process of converting from paper to digital data, so they are in the beginning stages of learning how to protect their data digitally.
Hackers will seek to gain access to an account, change the mailing address to their own, and then seek a loan or distribution sent to that changed address by impersonating the person whose account they hacked. By the time the person hacked finds out about this and reports it, the check has likely been cashed. Hence, precautions have to be taken to guard against an attack in these kinds of situations or they become a target for cyber attackers. Education on new cybersecurity threats and data protection can help protect a plan and its participants, but with ever-evolving cyber-attacks and plan sponsors’ ignorance of proper cyber protection, you should go even farther.
Protect Your Data with Cyber Liability Insurance
Colonial’s Cyber Liability Insurance provides a services-based solution to help plan sponsors manage data breaches successfully. These services include a dedicated team of cyber breach professionals who assist plan sponsors at every stage of incident investigation and breach response. These professionals coordinate the carefully vetted forensics experts and specialized lawyers to help plan sponsors establish what’s been compromised; assess plan sponsor responsibility; and, notify those individuals affected.
It is recommended that all plan sponsors purchase Cyber Liability Insurance to protect against possible cyber-attacks and data breach as attackers become more sophisticated and find their way around current state-of-the-art protections and safeguards. Those who lower cyber-attack risk by implementing policies and protections of data prior to the inquiry have a better chance of being approved for the purchase of the cyber policy.
Colonial Surety offers Cyber Liability Insurance to our Plan Sponsor clients when they purchase a 2 or 3 year ERISA Fidelity Bond package with Fiduciary Liability Insurance, we include the Cyber Liability Insurance at no extra cost to best protect your plan’s assets and your business against a loss due to a cyber-attack. Click here to get started.