Press Release

Internal Employees Greatest Cybersecurity Threat for Insurers

CHICAGO (June 25, 2019) – A flash poll conducted by Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP (Baker Tilly) indicates over 50 percent of insurers believe negligent insiders are the biggest cybersecurity threat facing their organization.

Social engineering, such as phishing, continues to remain one of the top methods cyber criminals use to access a company’s non-public information,” Russell Sommers, CPA, CISA, senior manager with Baker Tilly’s insurance advisory practice, said. “The types of schemes hackers use are becoming more sophisticated and regardless of how many times employees are reminded or trained about cybersecurity awareness, there will still be individuals that respond to these types of cyber threats.”

“It’s safe to assume organizations will experience some type of data loss or breach. Because of this, the NAIC Insurance Data Security Model Law requires insurers to establish a well-developed incident response plan,” Phil Schmoyer, CFE, CISA, AES, CSM, senior manager with Baker Tilly’s insurance advisory practice, said. “By having an established strategy for responding to cybersecurity events, insurers are able to strengthen their defense mechanisms against future cyber attacks, better handle unauthorized data breaches, and minimize the impacts when they occur.”

Baker Tilly recently held an educational webinar, The NAIC Insurance Data Security Model Law: Preparing for your state’s next cybersecurity examination, to assist insurance professionals understand the NAIC Model Law and what they should do now to prepare for compliance.

The webinar presenters discussed:

  • A high-level overview of the NAIC Model Law
  • The states that have already adopted, or are in the process of adopting, the regulation
  • The similarities with the NYS DFS Cybersecurity Law
  • Steps insurance organizations must take to prepare for compliance

A recording of the webinar is available at bakertilly.com/insights/the-naic-insurance-data-security-model-law-preparing.

About Baker Tilly US, LLP (bakertilly.com)

Baker Tilly US, LLP (Baker Tilly) is a leading advisory, tax and assurance firm whose specialized professionals guide clients through an ever-changing business world, helping them win now and anticipate tomorrow. Headquartered in Chicago, Baker Tilly, and its affiliated entities, have operations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Baker Tilly is an independent member of Baker Tilly International, a worldwide network of independent accounting and business advisory firms in 145 territories, with 34,700 professionals. The combined worldwide revenue of independent member firms is $3.6 billion. Visit bakertilly.com or join the conversation on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.