Life Distributors Wrestle With Cyberattack Threat

Payton said social sentiment played a part in the 2016 presidential election, with Russian spies spreading false information on Facebook and other social media platforms.

“My prediction is that a foreign country will leverage social sentiment again within the next 12-18 months through fake news and disrupt an American business or an entire industry,” she said.

Payton said we can try and legislate our way to a cyber secure nation, “but if you want legislation to be your salvation, then you better be careful what you wish for.”

She cited Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank as two well-meaning consumer protection bills that “wound up being more of a stick to beat you with after the fact than offering protections to people or businesses.”

With tax reform making headlines these days, Payton said a better solution would be in offering an R&D tax cut. “Insurance and financial institutions are entrusted with so much client data. Why not offer incentives through an R&D tax credit to insurance and other companies who are willing to beef up cyber security in efforts to keep client data safer?”

Whatever the method a cyberattack takes, it’s put a burden on corporate America and the insurance industry, according to Jim Sorebo, the 2017 NAILBA chairman.

Earlier this week, Sorebo told ThinkAdvisor, “Today the cyber insurance industry is at $1.3 billion in premiums; by 2020 it’s estimated to be at $20 billion in premiums. Cyber threats are truly disrupting our industry, and we have to pay attention to that threat.”

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