Resilience as an information security guarantee

Information security must be based on resilience. Facing more and more sophisticated cyber attacks, insurance companies have to effectively protect the data in custody. This is of paramount importance because this information is very sensitive and any mistakes may cost both the company and the customer dearly.

The importance of resilience

Resilience is important for the development of every business, but it has a greater impact on those which manage personal information. This capability implies resistance but also overcoming difficulties and unfavourable scenarios to go back to normal, after suffering minimum losses. It is fundamental to continue relying on the business in these situations, since potential customers will feel protected at all times.

To develop this capability, insurance companies need to have a solid strategy and an efficient action plan. Cyber attacks can be extremely harmful and question the viability of the systems. Therefore, we need to consider which threat detection tools will be used, the responses which will be implemented when it comes to that, and how the recovery will be faced.

So, in the event of an attack, the insurance company services and the information in custody will be kept stable, both their own and that of customers. Some of the solutions that are commonly used are adaptive responses, privilege restrictions for system users, trickery to confuse the attacker or redundancy of different sections with the objective of gaining time in critical situations.

By combining all this, we can guarantee the continuation of the service and the recovery of normality in a reduced amount of time. This way, the system resilience is guaranteed, something which, undoubtedly, is going to satisfy customers and other agents interested in the business.

Benefits of resilience for insurance companies

The most interesting one aims at maintaining the business credibility. An attack of great magnitude will soon spread to the public opinion and this could be detrimental to the image of the company. Besides, in the worst-case scenario, it will take years of hard work to get back what has been lost. Therefore, it is advisable to take precautions to the extreme and have a response ready for different scenarios.

A competitive advantage is also achieved. The companies that do not rely on resilient security will not be able to face those that do. Bear in mind that they will be better prepared for different outcomes, something which customers are going to figure out and which will eventually produce results. Especially at a time when data protection is a recurring hot topic and which has been formalised in several international acts.

In short, information security is crucial for insurance companies, which is why they need to rely on resilient systems and architectures. The business itself is at stake, as well as the credibility and survival of the company.