As 2020 approaches, financial and insurance institutions continue to face some daunting challenges in the security and fraud detection field.
The news media is full of reports on ransomware, breached firewalls, gargantuan data hacks that potentially impact the lives of millions, and the actual theft of money through cryptocurrency heists and ATM scams. Not to mention that old-fashioned bank robbers are still very active, and insurance scammers remain dedicated to mulcting insurance companies out of millions in worker’s comp, life insurance swindles, and other tried and true methods of diddling insurers.
Insurers and banks, to be sure, are not standing idly by while their assets are pilfered. An overview of new and improved security measures shows that:
Banks and insurance companies are ramping up their in-house training so that even the most junior file clerk is becoming a security expert who can spot suspicious activity and imminent cyber threats, and then respond quickly and appropriately. The downside to this is that this comprehensive and complex training doesn’t come cheap in terms of employee downtime while being trained and the actual cost of this training, usually by outsourced tutorial agencies. The federal government is offering some free training for employees and insurance carriers and for banks and credit unions, but that’s just a drop in the bucket.
Algorithms are becoming more ‘intelligent’ when it comes to flagging suspicious patterns in consumer accounts. People usually spend their income in a predictable manner, and new algorithms are now automatically notifying consumers when that pattern is disrupted. Insurers are also hiring more staff to track and verify claims, making it harder to cheat on an insurance policy.
The bad news here is that with banks, credit unions, and insurance companies going to all this time and expense to protect accounts, they are passing these expenses on to their customers. Don’t look for this trend to end any time soon.
The news media is full of reports on ransomware, breached firewalls, gargantuan data hacks that potentially impact the lives of millions, and the actual theft of money through cryptocurrency heists and ATM scams. Not to mention that old-fashioned bank robbers are still very active, and insurance scammers remain dedicated to mulcting insurance companies out of millions in worker’s comp, life insurance swindles, and other tried and true methods of diddling insurers.
Insurers and banks, to be sure, are not standing idly by while their assets are pilfered. An overview of new and improved security measures shows that:
Banks and insurance companies are ramping up their in-house training so that even the most junior file clerk is becoming a security expert who can spot suspicious activity and imminent cyber threats, and then respond quickly and appropriately. The downside to this is that this comprehensive and complex training doesn’t come cheap in terms of employee downtime while being trained and the actual cost of this training, usually by outsourced tutorial agencies. The federal government is offering some free training for employees and insurance carriers and for banks and credit unions, but that’s just a drop in the bucket.
Algorithms are becoming more ‘intelligent’ when it comes to flagging suspicious patterns in consumer accounts. People usually spend their income in a predictable manner, and new algorithms are now automatically notifying consumers when that pattern is disrupted. Insurers are also hiring more staff to track and verify claims, making it harder to cheat on an insurance policy.
The bad news here is that with banks, credit unions, and insurance companies going to all this time and expense to protect accounts, they are passing these expenses on to their customers. Don’t look for this trend to end any time soon.
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