The Westfield Agents Association (WAA) has joined forces with cybersecurity firm Arete Advisors to develop InsuraShield, a new cybersecurity solution designed particularly for insurance agents in the US.
Image: The InsuraShield cybersecurity solution is designed specifically for insurance agents. Photo: courtesy of Westfield Agents Association.
Set to be launched in June, InsuraShield will be an information sharing and analysis organisation (ISAO) that will promote and facilitate the sharing of cybersecurity information within its members belonging to the insurance industry.
The new cybersecurity solution combines software, services and information that can help agencies guard against cyber-attacks, enhance cybersecurity knowledge and comply with security regulations related to the insurance industry.
InsuraShield will also be a managed security service, which will cover latest security software and active threat monitoring aimed at protecting agencies from ransomware and other sophisticated threats, that are otherwise not prevented by traditional small business security defences.
The solution’s features and benefits are expected to deliver large-enterprise class security to small and mid-size insurance agencies. Included in these are advanced endpoint protection software, active threat monitoring, phishing sandbox, security help desk, round-the-clock cyber incident response hotline and cybersecurity information.
Arete Advisors president and cybersecurity strategist Jim Jaeger said: “InsuraShield is really unique. It brings the kind of security that you would normally only see in large enterprises and government agencies to small and mid-size insurance agencies, at a fraction of the cost.”
According to WAA, the increased targeting by attackers on insurance agencies and the surge in cybersecurity regulations focused on the insurance industry need the agencies to take proactive measures to enhance their security posture, improve security knowledge and meet security regulations.
WAA president and Knight Insurance Group COO Diane Keil-Hipp said: “The insurance industry is seeing an increase in cybersecurity-related regulation.
“Soon, an agency will need to demonstrate that deliberate actions have been taken to address the cyber risk in their own environment, as a service provider to carriers, and as a custodian of consumer data. InsuraShield gives agents access to the tools to meet the standard requirements.
“We’ve seen agents struggle to recover from a breach and InsuraShield is a cost-effective way for agents to safeguard their customer information, be confident in their information security and manage cyber risk.”