National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Cyber threats continuously evolve and pose risks to our customers and business partners, our communities and our company. Travelers takes a holistic approach to cybersecurity, which includes a comprehensive awareness initiative, to foster safe cyber behaviors.
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month – a collaborative industry- and government-led effort to continue raising awareness around the importance of cybersecurity. Each year, Travelers initiates a campaign to highlight critical risks and actions employees can take to safeguard Travelers’ and our customers’ information. In 2020, the campaign introduced an interactive, online Cyber Rules of the Road game for employees to test their cyber knowledge. In 2021, in response to heightened phishing risk, we launched the One Click Away campaign, which was based on actual phishing emails. In 2022, the Travelers Secure campaign used videos focused on exponential data growth and the protections needed across the life cycle of data creation and disposal.
A key initiative in 2022 was enhancing cybersecurity awareness among our agents and brokers. These business partners regularly connect online with Travelers to obtain policy information and quotes, as well as to conduct other business. It is essential that agent/broker logins are secure to protect Travelers’ systems and information from cyberattacks.
In 2022, the Travelers Institute, the public policy division of Travelers, marked National Cybersecurity Awareness Month with an educational webinar for independent insurance agents and small to midsized businesses, as well as two in-person symposia. The webinar, part of the Wednesdays with Woodward® series, explored new cybersecurity legislation concerning critical infrastructure and cyber incident reporting requirements. It featured Ken Morrison, Assistant Vice President, Cyber Risk Management for Bond & Specialty Insurance at Travelers, and Matthew Eggers, Vice President, Cybersecurity Policy, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The symposia, held in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Los Angeles, California, were part of our national series Cyber: Prepare, Prevent, Mitigate, Restore®, which aims to help businesses and organizations tackle evolving cyber threats. The events featured speakers from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, along with Travelers' Enterprise Cyber Lead Tim Francis and representatives from Travelers’ cybersecurity vendors, who shared insights into the current threat landscape and strategies to help prepare for and respond to a cyber incident.
Our 2022 Travelers Risk Index report found that cyber threats are the No. 1 concern across all businesses. Despite heightened cyber concerns and increased threats, many businesses remain unprepared and have not implemented basic prevention measures, such as multifactor authentication or an incident response plan. Travelers understands the complexity of cyber threats and continues to be proactive in addressing cyber concerns for business customers.
Related Resources
- Travelers Institute® Webinar: What’s Required? Understanding the New Cybersecurity Laws Impacting U.S. Critical Infrastructure
- Travelers Institute® Webinar: Hacked! What’s Your Plan?
- Travelers Institute® Webinar: Cybersecurity Playbook: Creating Your Checklist