Most agents, brokers and executives in the insurance and financial services universe can be considered casual users of the Internet and all its related technologies. They are not intimately familiar with the security protocols protecting their systems. They trust their IT department has it all under control. However, recent hacking attacks on sites like Yahoo! and Amazon have made everyone aware of what you already know there is plenty of activity going on behind the scenes of the average homepage.

As the surge in e-business starts to take hold in the insurance industry, hackers everywhere are looking forward to some easy marks. So, with recent studies like Emerging Strategies in Insurance and Technology by IVANS reporting the insurance industry is well behind its kissing cousin, banking, in implementing technology solutions, the realization that insurance companies may be the perfect hacking targets is driving insurance company executives and risk managers up the proverbial wall. This realization is suddenly causing companies like yours to search for new and better ways to protect themselves, their policyholders, and their reputations.

You know your company is the repository for a staggering amount of important personal data about policyholders. A violation of your system could result in a loss of data, exposure of social security numbers, credit card numbers, or even home addresses of customers. You could incur damage caused by a virus introduced into your system, have to work through a failure of your entire network, or at the outside, even deal with blackmail attempts.