Today's independent insurance agents must be well-versed in and compliant with roughly a dozen federal and state cyber security regulations that govern the handling of sensitive policyholder information, according to a new resource from the Agents Council for Technology (ACT).
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ACT is a program under the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. It aims to bring together volunteer work groups to address issues such as cybersecurity, customer experience and future trends.
To that end, ACT just published a free, downloadable regulatory checklist of sorts to help independent insurance agencies and agents get in front of compliance and security measures when it comes to facing down cyber threats and initiating cyber insurance policies.
"Having to communicate to customers that their private information has been breached can cripple a business and incur thousands of dollars of costs and penalties," said ACT Executive Director Ron Berg. "With such high stakes in mind, the ACT Security Issues Work Group has complied this resource for Big 'I' members."
Regulatory checklist
The Agency Cyber Guide 1.0 also includes individual regulatory resources, such as an updated Agency Cybersecurity Policy template.
The Cyber Guide is meant to be an organic resource that's updated periodically as new cybersecurity laws and cyber threats come into play. Making this Guide available to independent agencies for free supports the ACT's goal of fostering consistent, innovative workflows throughout the insurance industry.
Agents looking to become more involved with the ACT and its cybersecurity work may want to attend the 2017 ACT Meeting happening Sept. 7-8 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, in conjunction with the 2017 Big "I" Fall Leadership Conference.
Related:
Cyber insurance claims: What happens when a breach occurs
4 pitfalls to avoid in a cyber insurance policy
How risk modeling propels the cyber insurance market forward
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