Keep Track of Your Third-Party Insurance Vendors

Every insurance firm needs to know who they’re doing business with. Whether you’re in the field of health, life, auto, or property insurance, insurers often rely on various external contractors, suppliers, partners, and third-parties to carry out everyday business.

In 2015, insurance firm Anthem was at the center of a massive data breach. The hackers stole a variety of personal customer information in what was touted ‘one of the largest breaches in corporate history’.

As you well know about insurance risk and liability in your line of business, the same can be said for security risk and liabilities. When you open up your systems and networks to outside vendors, you open your company up to increased exposure to risks. Your insurance company needs an effective way to assess the associated security risks and ensure adequate controls are in place to minimize vendor liabilities.

Some of your vendors may provide critical operations or have access to customers’ data – and all of these vendors have the potential to leave your organization vulnerable. When it comes to allowing your vendors access to any personal or sensitive customer data, you need to be performing a comprehensive audit of actions taken in order to meet the latest laws and standards.

There are many regulations that insurers have to maintain compliance with, such as:

CFPB

FFIEC

HCCA-OIG

OCC

Failure to comply with regulatory compliance could mean fines and penalties for any insurance firm.

In order to reduce the risks surrounding doing business with third-party vendors – such as unauthorized access – it would be prudent for insurance companies to:

• Streamline remote support
  Third-party data breaches are a growing concern that can impact you, no matter your industry – and it can be difficult to defend against. To ensure your insurance firm’s assets are secure against cyber-attacks that target your vendors, one step you can take is to standardize your remote support access into one platform. This will eliminate the risk of third-party data loss or exposure.
• Control vendor remote access
  Insurance companies can have many vendor networks to try and manage. These are often easy targets for attackers. You’ll have to tackle IT security up and down all chains. Any entity you do business with could leave you vulnerable. By taking control of your vendors’ remote access you’ll be able to close the gaps in your protection.
• Audit all vendor activity
  You need to be able to see the “who, what, where, when and why” of data access – and be able to pull logs and videos of individual movements. Receive real-time connection notifications, providing you greater individual accountability.

About SecureLink

Our sole focus is secure third-party remote access. For highly regulated enterprise organizations, SecureLink Enterprise has pioneered a secure remote access platform. SecureLink for enterprise allows an organization to identify, control, and audit third-party vendors. For vendors, SecureLink is the gold standard remote access support platform because it is easy, efficient, and ensures compliance and reduces liability when supporting customers.