Learn what your firm can do to better protect your clients from cybercrime.
When investors seek professional advice about their portfolios, they also want to be assured that their financial and personal information is protected from cybercrime. If wealth advisory firms violate this trust, investors and clients may decide to do business elsewhere.
How can wealth advisory firms help protect their investors’ accounts from cybercrimes and fraud? Jeff Kennedy, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer at Regions Bank offers these tips:
1. Address the Fundamentals
Keep your computer’s software, including security software, up-to-date and apply updates promptly. Limit employee access to what they need to do their jobs and require them to use strong passwords — with a mix of numbers, letters, and symbols — to access the network. Assess customer-facing systems regularly to ensure they are secure against the latest threats.
2. Don’t Rely on One Control
One level of cybersecurity isn’t enough to defend against hackers. To keep threats at bay, deploy security controls across workstations, servers, and the network to provide an overlapping view and protection of your environment.
3. Limit Nonbusiness Use of Computers
Using the company computer system for non-work-related tasks can increase the risk of cyber threats. Employees should not install software, visit nonbusiness websites, or check their personal email on their work computers.
4. Set Up a Client Portal
Sending statements or sensitive communications directly to customers’ emails can make their accounts more vulnerable to cybercrime. To minimize cyber threats, require customers to log in to a client portal to obtain their financial information and create strong password requirements for their accounts. Customers may find this to be a nuisance at first, so explain how these extra security measures will help protect them.
5. Educate Clients About Cybersecurity
Your clients must do their part to protect their accounts against cyber threats, as well. Send newsletters and offer in-person training sessions to help clients understand the risk of cybercrime and steps they can take to mitigate their risk.
Also, make sure all of your clients are educated on investment fraud. In Episode 22 of Regions Wealth Podcast, we explain the various types of investment fraud and educate investors on the importance of working with a certified professional. We welcome you to share this episode with your clients.
For more tips and information on how to improve your cybersecurity and safeguard your clientele against fraud, visit regions.com/fraudprevention.
