This is article #3 of 7 in the series on optimizing insurance innovation and productivity through AI and cloud communications.
As digital transformation accelerates in the insurance industry, carriers have become increasingly tempting targets for cybercriminals. Insurers process vast amounts of highly sensitive information, including customer names, addresses, social security numbers, financial data, and health records. This information is especially valuable to criminal fraudsters, making insurance companies attractive targets for cyber attackers.
Here are just a few examples of recent large data breaches in the insurance industry, as reported by Insurancebusinessmag.com:
- On March 1, 2024, Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. reported a data breach affecting over 28,000 customers. The breach occurred at a third-party service provider and compromised personal information including names, Social Security numbers, and bank account details.
- The largest U.S. attack on an insurance company in 2023, compromising 9 million patients, was carried out by the LockBit ransomware group against Managed Care of North America (MCNA) Dental.
Maintaining security is getting harder as the threat environment constantly evolves. Today’s policyholders demand real-time services and a range of communication options. They want a frictionless customer experience powered by cutting-edge technology and top-notch personnel. But they’re not willing to sacrifice the privacy and security of their sensitive personal information.
Today’s consumers are keenly aware of the threats posed by hackers. They value their privacy and expect the companies they do business with to protect it. Lawmakers and government regulators have taken notice and passed legislation like GDPR, GLBA, and CCPA.
Companies that fail to prioritize cybersecurity risk significant financial losses from data breaches and expose their organizations to severe regulatory penalties. IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, for example, found that the average cost of a data breach for financial services organizations is $6.08 million. Non-compliance with regulatory standards can result in hefty fines, sanctions, and severe reputational damage, even in cases where no actual breach occurred.
To safeguard their operations and maintain customer trust, insurers must adopt comprehensive cybersecurity strategies that include cloud-based SaaS platforms designed from the ground up with robust security and strict compliance in mind.
Cloud-based services, with 24×7 security
Cloud-based services play a critical role in digital transformation, offering flexibility and scalability at a highly competitive price. Today’s cloud platforms provide a secure environment for handling sensitive data such as customer information and financial records, leveraging advanced technologies designed to protect against cyber threats. By moving to the cloud, insurance companies can benefit from a robust security framework that includes continuous 24×7 monitoring, rapid incident response, dedicated experts, and comprehensive threat detection capabilities.
Unlike on-premise systems, which frequently suffer from outdated software and security gaps, cloud providers offer automatic updates, ensuring that the latest security patches and enhancements are always in place. This significantly reduces cybersecurity risks. For this reason, cloud-based communications platforms are trusted by some of the world’s largest insurance companies and other financial institutions.
Communication security is data security
When it comes to communications, all the usual security measures naturally apply, including things like access control, end-to-end encryption (E2EE), role-based access controls (RBAC) and multifactor authentication (MFA). But for business communication, there are additional considerations as well. It’s a good policy, for example, to restrict attendance at internal meetings to authenticated users only, and to limit recording capabilities to authorized users. RingCentral’s video meetings have features like attendee waiting rooms, the ability to restrict screen sharing, and host control of data file sharing.
Naturally, RingCentral’s video meetings also cover the technical requirements, like E2EE, single sign-on (SSO), and TLS encryption/SRTP secure voice. RingCentral’s messaging functionality incorporates allow/block lists by domain or account, E2EE, and SEA FINRA 17a-4 compliance. Our device support includes PIN enforcement, enforced MFA, and more. We also offer a complete audit trail to track changes. RingCentral is designed from the ground up for security, privacy, and compliance, making it an ideal fit for insurance and financial services companies.
The need for trustworthy AI
Artificial intelligence is getting a lot of attention, as this emerging technology is proving to have transformative effects on productivity and effectiveness. Yet before companies rush headlong into AI, they need to understand its potential security implications. It is imperative that insurance companies work with trusted platforms that prioritize security and compliance.
Today’s most popular generative AI (GenAI) tools often rely on actual user data to train their large language models (LLMs). In other words, the information that you type into your free browser-based AI tool might become part of an LLM that others outside your organization can access. That means you could potentially be sharing some of the data that you have an obligation to protect.
Trustworthy AI takes a different approach, prioritizing privacy, security, and transparency. Companies like RingCentral don’t use your input to train its AI models, and they don’t allow their third party partners to do so either. That enables you to maintain confidentiality and remain fully compliant with privacy and data security regulations.
RingCentral’s “privacy by design” philosophy guides every step of our product development process. Our product managers and engineers work closely with our privacy team, ensuring that privacy is never an afterthought.
Why choose RingCentral for communication security
Business communication frequently involves the sharing of confidential information. While most people think of “data security” in terms of protecting databases, files, and applications, it’s really about protecting information throughout your organization, regardless of the medium. Every interaction contains data of some kind. For highly regulated industries, communication security is an essential element of data security.
As the insurance industry continues on its digital transformation journey, the importance of robust cybersecurity and compliance measures cannot be overstated. Insurance companies must proactively protect the vast amounts of sensitive data they handle daily, including communications. RingCentral RingEX offers an enterprise-grade solution to secure, scalable, compliant interactions.
Our AI-infused communications platform offers game-changing benefits in efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness. For organizations that want to leverage generative AI to supercharge productivity, RingCentral offers a secure, compliant path to get there fast, and without huge up-front investments. That’s why companies like Eclipse Insurance, Mendota Insurance, Good2Go Auto Insurance, Brightway, CFM Insurance, SCM Insurance Services, and InsuranceHub have chosen RingCentral’s secure, industry-leading UCaaS platform to transform their businesses.
Want to learn more about secure cloud-based communications? Explore our solutions for insurance today.
Originally published Nov 01, 2024