How advisors can protect their clients and their data online | Financial advisors

With the anonymous and remote nature of the crime, cyberattacks are a growing problem for financial advisors. In 2021, there were more than 300 million victims of cyberattacks, according to a study by Harris Poll. Not surprisingly, the study also showed that nearly 80% of internet users are concerned about their online safety.

Data from RiskSecurity also showed that 22 billion records were exposed to cyberattacks in 2021. And most breaches are motivated by financial reasons.

Financial advisors who handle client data and money must include cybersecurity as a top priority. Essentially, cybersecurity has become an essential part of providing objective financial planning advice. Helping clients plan to achieve their financial goals without worrying about how to protect their money is now inadequate.

Here are three categories of tools financial advisors can offer their clients to help keep them safe online so their hard-earned money is safe from cybercriminals:

They are cybersecurity tools that protect users’ data, privacy and identity on the Internet. They do this by monitoring users’ activities on the Internet and alerting them to any possible data, privacy and identity breaches.

This software provided by Norton has three key components: identity, security and privacy. LifeLock detects and alerts users to potential identity theft, security threats and privacy breaches.

LifeLock’s system includes privacy and dark web monitoring, credit monitoring, data breach notifications, credit file locking, payday loan checks, and identity and phone number alerts. social Security.

In addition to notification, LifeLock also helps resolve any cyberattack and reimburses users up to $1 million for amounts lost due to the attack and any external costs incurred in its resolution, such as hiring lawyers and experts.

Identity Guard is integrated with IBM’s Watson, allowing it to predict which activities will expose a user to cyberattacks and provide real-time threat alerts. Like LifeLock, it crawls the internet and notifies users of any cyber threats. This includes social security number and credit monitoring, dark web monitoring, and account takeover detection.

Like LifeLock, it provides up to $1 million in reimbursement for cyberattacks. However, this reimbursement is limited to the money actually lost and not to the money paid for the services of lawyers and other experts.

Owned by Equifax, ID Watchdog also provides a wide range of cybersecurity services that include alerts for risky loans, social media account takeover, tampering with public records and addresses, and cyberbullying. It also has features specifically designed for child protection.

There is up to $1 million in insurance for identity theft, including 401(k) losses.

Although financial advisors are primarily responsible for wealth management, they can also help clients understand the need for internet security and how data breaches can expose them to financial fraud.

Based on this, they can recommend any of these general purpose data protection software tools to their customers, especially those who are financial caregivers. Managing another person’s finances is a big trust, and financial caregivers need to make sure their loved ones’ data, privacy, and identity are safe.

Financial advisors themselves need to be protected on the Internet, and any of these tools can protect them from unscrupulous elements.

These programs are specifically designed to protect users from cyberattacks when performing various financial transactions. Simply put, these software tools allow users to perform their financial transactions with confidence.

In addition to financial management tools, Carefull provides identity protection; password and document management; and intelligent account monitoring to detect fraud, scams and errors. It also provides credit monitoring, credit freeze, spam opt-out and lost wallet support.

Additionally, Carefull supports live recovery assistance as well as identity theft insurance, as well as general purpose data protection tools.

More importantly, Carefull has a plan designed specifically for financial advisors. Through this platform, advisors can protect the data and finances of elderly clients and their financial caregivers.

Although Carefull has a bill payment feature that notifies users of upcoming bills, Silver Bills provides the most comprehensive bill payment service. Silver Bills is a janitorial bill management application that manages bills on behalf of users and sends them regular reports.

Its cybersecurity features include storing user data in IBM’s cloud, using a firewall network and encryption algorithm; provide 2-factor authentication; and ensure that every bill payment is reviewed by an AI-supported algorithm, human auditor and dedicated account manager.

Financial advisors may recommend software like Carefull to financial caregivers of their elderly clients or to their clients who are financial caregivers. Alternatively, financial advisors can open their own Carefull account and directly onboard their older clients by collaborating with their caregivers.

Additionally, advisors can recommend a platform like Silver Bills to clients to pay their bills efficiently and securely. The range of data protection services on this platform can provide the confidence customers need when paying their bills online.

Bank accounts are popular targets for many hackers. Therefore, banks are also realizing the need to secure their own systems to protect customer data. They now use various data protection tools to achieve this goal.

Banks are using artificial intelligence, multi-factor authentication, biometrics, and encryption, among other strategies, in an effort to improve the security of data and money.

Additionally, they use comprehensive data protection services provided by companies such as IBM, NetGuardians, and Checkpoint.

Although we live in a fintech revolution, banks are still a key part of the financial industry. Financial advisors should advise their clients on the type of banks they should choose based on the security architecture employed by the bank. This will help ensure that their money and data with these banks is safe.

In summary, as the need for cybersecurity grows, financial advisors will be required to do more to keep their clients’ data and money secure. This will include suggesting good cybersecurity services that will protect them online and ensuring that the banks and financial applications they use have sufficient internal security to protect them against security breaches, the identity theft and cyberattacks.