5 necessary cybersecurity questions

When it comes to handling your company’s risk for a cybersecurity breach, Michael Dundas, client services director for Herjavec Group (owned by Robert Herjavec of the reality show “Shark Tank”), recommended asking a series of questions, including but not limited to:

1.       How often do we back up our data?
2.       How quickly can we restore that data?
3.       Could we even recreate the data?
4.       Do we have an offsite system?
5.       What are we willing to lose?

Backing up data offsite or in the cloud means if a hacker claims to be in your server and threatens to delete everything, you know that your duplicated data will be there in the morning — even if the original was wiped clean. It’s also important to train advisors to follow established procedures when incidents happen, Dundas added.

Advisors and clients also should have multiple levels of identification required for privileged access, Dundas said. “For example, if I’m moving $100 from a personal bank account, it’s not a big deal, but if I try to move $10,000, the system won’t allow it, and I have to involve somebody else,” he said.

Read how you can keep your clients’ information safe in the upcoming March/April issue of Round the Table.

For more on cybersecurity:

•        “The hacker’s blacklist: Cybersecurity for financial professionals” (pdf)
•       “What is your smartphone leaking?” (pdf)

Written by Matt Pais, MDRT Content Specialist