The Department of Labor (DOL) has published cybersecurity tips for plan sponsors and participants. These are tips serve as a recommended course of action and not requirements. However, given they are coming directly from the horses mouth (: , they should be reviewed and carefully considered.
What Plan Sponsors Should Ask Service Providers
- Security Standards
- Security Practices
- Security Policies
- Audit Results
- Security Validation Process
- Security Levels Implemented
- Past Security Breaches
- Cybersecurity Insurance
- Cybersecurity Guarantee
What Actions Plan Sponsors Should Consider
- Establish a formal cybersecurity program
- Conduct annual risk assessments
- Hire a third party to audit security controls
- Define and assign information security roles and responsibilities
- Establish strong access control procedures
- If data stored in cloud or with third party, conduct security reviews
- Conduct cyber security awareness training
- Implement secure system development life cycle
- Create effective business resiliency program
- Encrypt sensitive data
- Respond to cyber security events
What Actions Participants Should Consider:
- Register your account
- Regularly monitor your account
- Use strong and unique passwords
- Use multi-factor authentication
- Keep personal contact information current
- Close or delete unused accounts
- Do not use free Wi-Fi
- Beware of Phishing attacks
- Do not store login information in your email account
- Use up to date anti-virus software
- Report identify theft to your employer and the record-keeper
How Stonebridge Can Help
Stonebridge would be happy to provide a cybersecurity assessment to help you meet DOL requirements - please reach out if you'd like some assistance here.
Overall, it can be a bit overwhelming to administer a company retirement plan, given all the documentation nuances let alone the deadlines! At Stonebridge Financial Group, we work exclusively with retirement plans and can help you with everything from designing to running your plan. Delegating fiduciary responsibilities can be a great solution for plan sponsors who lack time and the knowledge of ever-changing requirements to manage a retirement plan -- it's is all we've done since our inception back in 2004! Our robust service offering starts with ERISA 3(21) and 3(38) services and is the tip of the iceberg. We are consultants that help you with every aspect of your plan:
- Implementing cybersecurity best practices
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- Participant 1:1 and group education
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We become your outsourced retirement plan officer who dives into the morass of retirement plan details and resolves issues so you don't have to!
Pleaseclick here to schedule a short call, give us a call at (855) 530-0500 x601 or emailinfo@stonebridgefinancialgroup.com. We look forward to helping your committee successfully fulfill their fiduciary duties with ease and excellence!