Insurance companies have embraced the digital revolution and have also launched a Cybersecurity Insurance to safeguard customers. Policies have shifted from paper to digital formats in the market and management (buying, retaining, and renewing). Digitizing an insurance policy changes the threat surface. Using a repository, a carrier portal, or an e-Insurance Account for policy management involves risks. How you defend against those risks determines if your coverage is a resource or a liability. The purpose of this article is to explain, based on expert knowledge and experience, to individual policyholders and owners of small businesses, the defensive practices required to Store all your insurance policies online securely and avoid losing digital insurance records to fraud.

Why is this Cybersecurity Insurance Policy Important?

Digital insurance records in the holders of the policy are valuable. Contained in those documents are personally identifiable information (PII), policy number information, financial and banking information, and health records. Fraudsters are equipped to make use of that information to execute a variety of illegitimate actions to their financial benefit such as submitting fraudulent claims, taking over an account, stealing a person’s identity, or impersonating someone to illegally transfer money. Policies that are stored or accessed on the web incur the risk that a lost opportunity will be incurred if account security is weak.

Security failure is a liability not only in the financial sense. It can also expose a person to situations in which fraudulent claims will be filed, credit ratings will be negatively impacted, and the person will be subjected to long processes, even to the extending of the agents of the financial institutions involved, in which the person’s liability will be transferred to banks and insurance companies. Whether the person chooses to engage in risk management is an individual choice. Trusted repositories and platforms can provide no security if the consumer chooses to not apply reasonable security practices.

Common Neo-digital Scam Practices and Patterns (Potential Red Flags):

1. Send-phishing and False Support:

Malefactors impersonating your insurer, insurance repositories, or helpdesk staff send urgent messages requesting OTPs, policy numbers, or ‘verifying’ accounts, and these messages use boilerplate phishing language but are fully brand-fortified with logos and brand colors.

Mitigation Efforts: You should never send OTPs or full policy numbers via email or chat. Always use verified channels, and if possible, call the official number on your insurer’s website.

2. SMS/SIM Swap Scam

Unauthorized resets of accounts may be completed if the perpetrator has enough personal information. During these resets, the perpetrator transfers the victim’s phone number to a new SIM that the perpetrator has access to and removes SMS OTPs from the victim’s accounts.

Mitigation: Try to use app-based authenticators or hardware tokens, and always set a SIM-swap PIN with your mobile operator.

3. impersonating repositories and rogue apps

Because of the absence of technology-based verification, malicious users impersonating insurance repositories may use credential harvesting of victim accounts via imposter mobile apps. These users “*Upload Insurance policy (fraudulent)* to these impersonators as they willingly provide sensitive data to the attackers.”

Mitigation Efforts: Always verify the domain and app publisher. Use the official links on insurance repositories, and trusted repositories (e.g.: Centrico Insurance Repositories Limited (CIRL)) when provided.

4. Social Engineering and Telephone Fraud

Fraudsters impersonate insurance company employees or regulatory agencies and request eIA details or ask you to “move funds to a safe account.” Once scammers gain the potential target’s trust, they ask for sensitive information.

Mitigation strategies: Fraudulent callers will lack details and try to pressure victims to transfer funds or share sensitive information, which should be a warning to hang up and call the helpdesk directly.

General Prevention Measures for All Policyholders

Account Setup and Authentication

1. Use a unique and complex password for each insurance portal. Passwords made of 3 random words in a phrase form are more safe and easier to remember.

2. Use Multi-factor Authentication. Hardware keys and authenticator apps (TOTP) are more secure than SMS.

3. Use device recognition and new login alert features when available.

Verify Before You Link

1. If you are asked to link a policy to an e-insurance account, verify the repository/provider directly with the insurer.

2. If you are directed to how to open e-insurance account or complete KYC through a link, go directly to the insurer or repository portal instead of following the link in the message.

Secure uploads and document hygiene

1. Before uploading insurance policies, check the site’s privacy and encryption security. Make sure TLS (https) is enabled and the site describes encryption at rest.

2. Remove unnecessary sensitive fields when sharing policies for queries (e.g. bank account or PAN should not be included).

3. Use the official upload functionality or the inbox space provided inside the insurer’s secured portal.

Device and email hygiene

1. Keep operating systems and applications updated. Many breaches take advantage of failings in system patching.

2. Make sure there is reliable antivirus/endpoint protection on phones and computers.

3. Separate email usage: have a dedicated email account for sensitive financial or insurance accounts, as this can reduce risk when inboxes get breached on promotional or other accounts.

Monitor and map policies

1. Regularly review the policies that you have mapped in your e-Insurance Account for Policy Management and create alerts for new policies or changes to policies.

2. Use automated reminders for when premiums are due instead of relying on SMS or email from unknown sources, as fraudulent “renewal” reminders are common.

For Organizations and Platform Operators (Brief Operational Checklist)

1. Apply and maintain strong authentication policy and require multi-factor authentication for sensitive actions (policy mapping, payout setup).

2. Keep track of and supervise administrative processes and abnormal patterns of downloading data.

3. Conduct frequent phishing exercises and educate employees and partners.

4. Employ secure API gateways and ensure validation of all third-party integrations as compromises from third parties can also affect the end consumers.

5. Publicly and transparently explain the mechanisms available to customers to authenticate the official communications they receive (including domain names, email structure, and phone numbers they will call). For example, organizations like Centrico Insurance Repository Limited (CIRL) provide official validated helpdesk numbers and fraud warning alerts – remember to validate these.

Incident response – in the event of fraud

1. If possible, contain the accounts by changing passwords, closing active sessions, and deactivating any payment methods.

2. Notify your insurance company and the repository in which the policy is located, using the email address or phone number available on the official webpage.

3. Lodge a complaint with the police or a specific cyber-crime division and obtain a reference number; this is a requirement often demanded by insurers to validate the claim and for remediation.

4. If payment details were disclosed, inform banks and other financial institutions of the data breach.

5. Keep logs of any suspicious patterns in communications, for example by taking screenshots, and noting the message headers with timestamps, as these will assist any future investigation.

Building long-lasting resilience will necessitate a mixture of digital and behavioural approaches.

1. Password managers must be used. These tools create and save password instances to avoid credential reuse when entering multiple password-protected sites.

2. Select repositories with secure cyber audits. Repositories with e-KYC and certificate-based access with detailed fraud permissions controls are lower risk.

3. Communicate with family. Breaches often start with an unwitting family member sharing a screenshot or an OTP code.

4. Policy mapping must be intentional. When you, Convert Your Physical Policies Digitally, do it in one go, verify every mapping, and document the relevant repository account number. This is to mitigate multiple sensitive touchpoints unnecessarily.

Quick consumer checklist (printable)

1. Use a different password + MFA for every insurer/repository.

2. Verify you are at the official point of contact before acting on any correspondence.

3. Do not share OTPs, full policy numbers, or your banking information.

4. Use an authenticator app or a hardware key instead of SMS.

5. Regularly check your Know Your Insurance Policy and the accounts it is mapped to.

6. Have an offline copy: policies can be archived in a safe and encrypted manner.

Conclusion:

Accessing digitally stored insurance management files is quicker, easier, and offers the convenience of simplifying the claims process and consolidating everything into one easily accessible place for viewing and tracking. In comparison to accessibility, proper security measures tend to be ignored. Use your own digital security measures and employ good security hygiene. If you have any suspicions, use the contact information for the helpdesk provided by your insurance repositories or insurance companies. You should treat the onboarding process into a central repository for your policies or opening an e insurance account as a security procedure, not just a brand-new administrative process. It is the transparency of their security policies paired with strong authentications that lowers the risk for all of us to high security repositories and companies. Guidance like that provided by Centrico Insurance Repository Limited (CIRL) is an example of good user control accompanied by fraud warning systems: Use their guidance but use your own as well.