| Data compromises by bad guy hackers grew 68% year over year from 2020 to 2021. It’s a new record says the Identity Theft Resource Center. Some businesses think they’re too small to be a bother to hackers. If they’re thinking that — if you’re thinking that — then you’re wrong. You are not too small. According to a report by Accenture, 43% of cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses, but only 14% are prepared to defend themselves. You need to make sure you are safe and that your client and financial information is safe. To meet that need, PIA National is rolling out a new Cyber Assessment program for agencies. It will give you a report on your security systems and practices. The multi-phase cybercrime campaign by PIA National gives our PIA Western Alliance members critical tools to comply with regulations, insurer requirements and address client concerns about coverages and data security. This is a one-of- a-kind assessment for PIA member agencies. It delivers critical insights on your agency’s cyber weaknesses. It looks at your security directly and through the third-party vendors you may use. The program was developed by longtime PIA advocate Thomas H. Wetzel & Associates. The detailed assessment is a 4-step process starting with a 15-minute call to answer your basic questions and concerns about cyber security. After that it requires very little time. While the entire process typically takes 7-10 days, it takes very little staff time. And the time invested includes a consultation after the report is delivered. In addition to a detailed analyses of your agency’s unique cyber weaknesses, the assessment has tools to turn recommendations into action. This includes tools to help your existing IT service — if you have one — and resource information on more advanced services and tools to support in-house or outside IT services. The assessment also offers an analysis of your agency’s vendor user agreements, agency and vendor breaches, and detailed mitigation recommendations. All of this is done in an easily understood, non-technical format. The PIA campaign also incorporates an expanded cyber section on the national site with other events to be announced in the future. The PIA Western Alliance staff tested the program and we did our own assessment. We felt it important to vet the program for ourselves and see how it works. It works beautifully. All things considered, our assessment was pretty clean. We had some issues and consulted with our Cloud Provider and they gave us a recommendation to use a 2 factor authentication in the future. That said, there are several states that have enacted legislation requiring agencies to have a cyber mitigation plan and cyber policy in place. It’s very similar to the requirements like E&O. Legislatures in the nine PIA Western Alliance states are looking at legislation to make a cyber mitigation plan a requirement to do business. PIA national and the PIA Western Alliance see the cyber assessment program as a proactive step to get your agency ready. The one-time cost is $549. While that may seem a steep price, it is a significant savings over going it alone and ending up with a very costly cyber breach. You can purchase a cyber assessment policy from us and you can sell the same policy to your clients for a nice commission of 12.5%. For more information or to schedule an assessment, contact us at 888-246-4466. Here is a link to give you more information: https://piawest.com/page/CyberAssessmentProgram Source link: PIA Western Alliance |
