ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 3, 2010 — The Independent Agents & Brokers of America’s Agents Council for Technology (ACT) will host a free webinar titled “Protecting Independent Agent Clients with Secure E-mail Using TLS (Transport Layer Security),” on Thursday, Feb. 25 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. EST.
TITLE: Newly Revised ACT Webinar: Protecting Independent Agent Clients with Secure E-mail Using TLS (Transport Layer Security)
MODERATOR: Jeff Yates, ACT Executive Director
PANELISTS: Jim Rogers, Director of Distribution Technology, The Hartford
Tim Woodcock, President, Courtesy Computers
DATE: Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010
TIME: 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. EST
REGISTRATION: Click HERE or go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/893967424
COST: Free
“Agents have a genuine interest in protecting sensitive information transmitted by e-mail and our free webinars on TLS e-mail encryption are a resource to learn about a non-proprietary, user-friendly technology and how to get started,” says Jeff Yates, ACT executive director. “Commercial lines applications and other documents containing sensitive client information need to be protected at all times, including when e-mailed to carriers.”
The first 45 minutes of this Webinar is designed for agency business leaders and explains the risks of unsecured e-mail, the availability and handling of TLS on various types of servers (whether in-house or hosted), securing a security certificate, activating TLS with insurance carriers and detecting TLS encrypted emails. The final 15 minutes will be a more technical demonstration of TLS implementation using a 2007 Microsoft Exchange server as an example.
“ACT does not promote any particular vendor, but endorses an industry standard approach to secure e-mail that is transparent to the end users,” Yates adds. “Many carriers are capable of receiving TLS encrypted e-mail from their agents and the use of TLS positions the agency to comply with the various federal and state privacy, security and data breach laws when the party receiving the e-mail is also TLS enabled.”
TLS is available on most up-to-date in-house e-mail servers (such as Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes) and on many hosted servers. It is not currently available on Hotmail or Yahoo hosted email, but Google now provides a Gmail commercial package with TLS capability. Once implemented by the agency’s technology professional, TLS is transparent to the user and the primary cost is the security certificate. It provides a better agent workflow than proprietary e-mail solutions imposed by the carrier.
ACT has produced the article “Protect Your Clients with Secure E-mail using TLS,” as well as agents’ frequently asked questions about TLS, which can be found at www.independentagent.com/act at the “Security and Privacy” quick link. The Web page also includes a list of carriers enabled for TLS as well as a recording of previous webinars, covering TLS implementation on both 2003 and 2007 Microsoft exchange servers.
Established in 1999 by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”), ACT provides a candid, action-oriented forum for agent and industry associations, user groups, companies and vendors to address critical technology and workflow issues facing the independent agency system and provides agencies with reports and tools to assist them in making improvements in their businesses.
Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
###