Ask Tim

Do Agents Have To Encrypt Emails Containing Customer Information?

Text of an email recently sent to an IIABNY member:

​I was asked to respond to your inquiry. As I understand it, you want to know whether your agency is required by law or regulation to encrypt certain customer information, such as when you prepare and email auto insurance I.D. cards. I apologize for the length of this response, but my conclusion is that the law and regulations do require an agency to encrypt such communications.

Certain sections of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act imposed requirements for the protection of customer information on insurance licensees. This law directed state insurance departments to implement and enforce the requirements. In New York, the Department of Financial Services enforces them by way of Insurance Regulations 169 and 173 (both are available for download from the Privacy page in the Member Answer Center of our Web site.) Regulation 169 pertains to privacy of consumer financial and health information; Regulation 173 pertains to standards for safeguarding that information. It is Regulation 173 that directly addresses your question.

Will Businesses Buy Insurance Online?

Every agent and broker should watch this video from A.M. Best. Do you agree that this is inevitable? What should insurance producers be doing now to prepare themselves so that their businesses will thrive in the new environment? Sound off in the comments.

Leave a Comment

Insurance Agents: Tell Your Clients About This App

While many apps fall into the entertainment category, the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) has just launched a free mobile disaster preparedness app that could protect your home and family.

Whether it’s a hurricane, wildfire, severe winter weather, earthquake, or other disaster, the I.I.I.’s “Know Your Plan” app for iPhone provides check lists and vital safety tips to help users prepare for catastrophe before disaster strikes.

“Know Your Plan” provides consumers with a library of preloaded checklists to learn about important property protection and preparedness steps. Customized lists can also be built from scratch.

Each checklist gives users options to set task completion dates, chart their progress and make additional notes for individual tasks.

One of the cool features of the app is that in the event of a disaster, users will be able to access a geotargeted emergency alert feed guiding them to up-to-the-minute information about local evacuation routes and other details about the disaster.

via www.iii.org

This is cool in so many ways. First, it gives consumers specific steps they can take to help themselves survive a catastrophe. Second, it is a fine example of a supposedly technophobic industry (insurance) using modern technology to help its customers. Third, this is about the insurance industry helping people with no apparent industry benefit -- no higher premiums, no denied claims. Yes, the industry benefits from smaller losses, but so do its customers.

I intend to install this app on my iPhone at my first opportunity, and I encourage everyone reading this blog to let their clients know about it.