With a greater reliance on technology than ever before, there’s been an increase in the frequency and severity of cyber threats and attacks. Any business can be affected and unfortunately, some UK brokers have recently been targeted.

When you become aware of a potential cyber incident, you’ll need to do the following:

  • Report the incident to the regulators within the required timescales, following advice from your Legal and/or Compliance teams – this includes the ICO and FCA.
  • Report any suspected or actual data incidents to all your insurer partners, in line with the terms of your TOBA.

Have you considered

  • Staff training and cyber security awareness: Staff with knowledge of cyber security threats can help keep your business safe. Generating awareness among your employees about the prevalent and emerging cyber threats is one of the most effective ways of protecting your business against cyber attacks.
  • Implement a Phishing Incident Response tool: Educating your employees will only take you so far if you don’t equip them with the means of dealing with cyber threats. A phishing incident response tool can empower employees to detect and report suspicious emails right away, significantly reducing cyber risks.
  • Conduct regular Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT): Testing helps detect any exploitable vulnerabilities in your organisation’s IT infrastructure, including applications, servers and networks. Make sure to fix the detected weaknesses as soon as possible.
  • Keep systems updated: Keep all your hardware and software up to date with the latest security updates and patches. Without them, you can create weaknesses in your security infrastructure which could lead to cyber attacks.
  • Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all the applicable endpoints of your organization’s networks: This will not only add an extra layer of security but also protect you in case your employees’ user credentials are stolen.
  • Government’s Cyber Essentials Scheme and Certification: Refer to the government scheme and get your organisation set up to guard against the most common cyber threats.
  • Get appropriate Cyber Insurance cover: BIBA has great guidance on this topic.

Don’t forget – Malicious third parties may obtain data which can be used for social engineering or cyber-attacks on your business partners, including insurers and suppliers.

We are here to help

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about how we can support you and your business.

This article was adapted from an article by Allianz which can be found here.