USAA and Amica Mutual were the only two out of 12 insurers included in a recent report to score “A” or above for protecting clients' information when payments are made online.
The report, released by financial services technology monitor Corporate Insight, Inc., tracked measures that companies utilize on their login pages to protect clients who enter sensitive information.
“Online security is always an area of concern where personal information is at stake. Normally, banks and brokerage firms have made cyber security a top priority, but if you have a P&C or a renter's account, your personal information is easily vetted and available if someone hacks into your account,” says Lauren Wistrom, Corporate Insight's senior P&C analyst.
The CI report, titled “Login Security: Keeping Policyholder Information Safe”, focuses on several key security recommendations that insurers should follow:
- Offer access to the company website with visible login boxes in sections of the private site.
- Create a two- step identification process, including entering a password and a PIN number.
- Ask customers to answer more than one security question for enhanced identity confirmation.
- Implement advanced security measures such as computer authorization software (tokens).
- Link to company security practice FAQs and customer safety tips.
Of the firms studied by Corporate Insight, 10 offer login access at the top of the static homepage menu, nine ask security questions as part of the login process, and half of firms offer login security information. Also, two firms (The Hartford and Progressive) allow bill pay without login, letting users make policy payments without storing vital information.
Five firms — including GEICO, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, State Farm and USAA — discuss their SSL encryption techniques on a customer-accessible page. However, only four firms require users to select policy type when logging in and only four remind clients to close their browser upon logout.
USAA (A+) and Amica (A) stood out because of USAA's option to let customers set their own security questions, retrieve lost login credentials and receive their PIN number via text message; and Amica's utilization of a security image along with a two-step identification process- the only company surveyed to use the extra security metric.
Identity theft was named by the FBI as second-leading type of cybercrime in 2011.
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