Growing Cyber Threats to the Insurance Sector
Insurers face several risks today, and this number has risen dramatically in recent years. The sector is so attractive because it controls so much money. This allure is compounded by the fact that the sector as a whole sees constant innovation in the form of new products, solutions, or services designed to maintain and advance its existing stock of assets. However, the widespread adoption of these new apps has led to an explosion in security holes.
Targeting a person’s financial holdings or insurance records is common because of the high value of such information. If insurance firms are aware of the potential weak points, they may take measures to shore them up. Now that we have established that, let’s talk about some of the biggest dangers facing the insurance industry and the measures that may be taken to lessen them.
Reasons Why Insuring Companies Are A Prime Target For Cybercriminals
Insurance companies are easy targets for cybercriminals due to the wealth of sensitive information they keep on their policyholders. Information drives product development, policy making, and cost estimation. This is why it’s priceless; insurance providers can tailor their products and rates to each customer’s specific requirements. Consumers are more willing to exchange data because of more competition and decreased prices. Unlike many other industries, insurance companies tend to acquire very sensitive personal information, not only financial data.
Cybersecurity Threats Insurance Firms Must Watch Out For
A growing number of cyberattacks are aimed against the insurance sector. Similar to many other industries, cyber insurance for ransomware attacks has emerged as a crucial defence mechanism.
1. Attacks Based On Social Engineering
Due to the increased complexity of social engineering assaults and the widening gaps in employee understanding of cybersecurity fundamentals, these attacks are rapidly rising. This obliviousness, which usually results from such a lack of training, exposes insurance firms to a wide range of security threats.
As part of a social engineering assault, fraudsters pose as legitimate entities to trick insurance industry workers into divulging private information.
Whaling attacks, a kind of social engineering in which fraudsters send CEOs a counterfeit email to mislead them into authorising big cash transfers, provide an additional danger of financial loss for insurance businesses. Whaling attacks have been increasingly common recently, jumping by much more than 100% in only one year, leading security experts to believe this trend will continue.
2. Business-To-Consumer Policyholder Data Is Compromised And Sold
Insurance firms have a lot of private information on their retail consumers that may be used for fraud and other illegal activities, just as they do on their business clients. Date of birth & Social Security number (or foreign equivalent) is PII’s most crucial piece. These are crucial components of identity theft schemes like false credit applications.
In the context of health policyholder data, identification document data and scans, such as those for passports and driver’s licences, are typically the most important data points, even more so than the specifics of the policies themselves. Car insurance firms are another potential target for identity theft and other forms of fraud because of the personal information and other data they collect.
The automated quotation mechanisms used by insurers, especially those dealing with vehicle insurance, may be exploited by attackers who have previously gained access to other sources of personally identifiable information.
A major risk for health insurers is that their data might be compromised by breaches at healthcare providers, according to the research. Insurance policy information is only one piece that makes healthcare organisations attractive targets for fraudsters. Information on insurance policies, birth dates, and Social Security numbers may all be found in the patient records at hospitals, medical offices, and other healthcare professionals if those data are breached.
3. Weakness In The Area Of Security
A strong cybersecurity posture, capable of withstanding various threats and assaults, is essential for protecting data against cyberattacks and cloud exploitation.
The problem is that many insurance providers still use outdated methods like questionnaires, penetration testing, and on-site assessments to gauge their cybersecurity. These procedures are time-consuming and can only provide a snapshot of a company’s cybersecurity; as a result, they need to catch up on what businesses must do to protect their data.
Security teams need advanced tools to monitor their posture in real-time to battle cyber hazards for insurers; automated systems enable insurers to achieve this and receive a more accurate sense of their protection in a shorter time.
4. Insurance Firm Hacking As Part Of A Larger Trend
Hacktivists with political or economic agendas may expose information about specific insurance firms. According to the study, hacktivists commonly attack a nation’s government and financial institutions because they think it would weaken the country’s political and social strength.
5. Misuse of the Cloud
Since insurance companies are increasingly using cloud services, they are more likely to be targets of cyberattacks, notably distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Cybercriminals may easily access your company’s data and mess with it while preventing workers from seeing it. What this problem reveals, however, is the utter reliance that businesses have on their cloud service providers.
This raises concerns about the resilience risk you take when using cloud services. Make sure a backup plan is in place in case a crucial dependence fails or is compromised by a cyberattack. SLAs and guarantees from your service supplier on their resilience and DR methods should be included in your contract wherever feasible for your protection.
6. Ransomware
Simply put, ransomware is malicious software that holds data or access to assets hostage until the victim pays a ransom. ‘A ransomware attack requires a vulnerability to be exploited. A breach may be created if malicious actors send phishing emails to an organisation or a person. A breach is conceivable if a phishing email is opened.
Afterwards, a harmful payload is secretly sent via the hole in the defences without the victim’s knowledge. The malicious payload of an attack is the part that does the most damage to the target. Hackers may steal sensitive information when they gain access to a victim’s network.
Conclusion
Insurers or pension funds must manage cybersecurity and IT risk throughout the enterprise and the supply chain and adapt to emerging risks and technologies. Businesses should invest in state-of-the-art risk management tools and develop cybersecurity policies to minimise major cyber threats for insurance firms.
There are solutions available to establish a more secure cyberspace, such as a third-party risk management platform. Insurance businesses’ internal and outside cyber dangers are effectively addressed, and the security posture is assessed more efficiently.
