ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 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, May 13 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EDT.
TITLE: Protecting Independent Agent Clients with Secure E-mail Using TLS MODERATOR: Jeff Yates, ACT Executive Director
PANELISTS: Jim Rogers, Director of Distribution Technology, The Hartford
Tim Woodcock, President, Courtesy Computers
DATE: Thursday, May 13, 2010
TIME: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EDT
REGISTRATION: Click HERE or go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/493358569
COST: Free
“Big ‘I’ agencies know how crucial it is to protect sensitive information transmitted by e-mail,” says Jeff Yates, ACT executive director. “Commercial lines applications and other documents containing sensitive client information require special protection, including when e-mailed to carriers. This ACT webinar on TLS e-mail encryption is a popular free resource to learn about a non-proprietary, user-friendly technology and how to get started.”
The first 45 minutes of this webinar is designed for agency business leaders and explains the risks of unsecured e-mail, the emergence of laws and regulations requiring the use of secure e-mail when personal information is being transported, 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 e-mails. 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, however, we do endorse a non-proprietary industry approach to secure e-mail that is transparent to the end users,” Yates adds. “Many carriers are fully 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 e-mail, 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.
Read “Protect Your Clients with Secure E-mail using TLS,” as well as agents’ frequently asked questions about TLS, at www.iiaba.net/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.
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