A new third-party solution provides firms and their clients with comprehensive email protection.
FREMONT, CA: Fidelity Institutional®, a division of Fidelity Investments dedicated to providing technology, solutions, and insights to wealth management firms and institutions, has gained access to a new third-party cybersecurity offering provided by SaaS cybersecurity company, Armorblox, to help protect advisors and their end clients' business email from fraudulent activity. Business email compromise and email account compromise were the top cybercrime reported to the FBI in 2020 regarding financial damage, totaling roughly $2.1 billion. This updated solution assists in addressing this expanding industry concern.
“A robust cybersecurity program is critical to advisors’ business operations and maintaining the trust they have worked so hard to build with their clients,” says Scott Slater, Vice President of Practice Management and Consulting, Fidelity Institutional. “Access to this cybersecurity offering allows us to provide even greater value for our advisor clients while allowing them to provide peace of mind for their end clients.”
Armorblox's technology monitors client emails for risky conduct. Armorblox analyzes hundreds of data points and assists in preventing sophisticated email threats by utilizing advanced algorithms such as natural language comprehension, machine learning, and other artificial intelligence approaches. Armorblox can notify advisers of fraudulent emails, protecting themselves and their end clients from future danger.
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According to a recent Fidelity study, 67percent of advisors believe that the COVID-19 crisis prompted their firms to revisit and update their cybersecurity protocols for using technology virtually, and 40percent believe that compliance, risk management, and cybersecurity technology platforms became more valuable as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. According to Fidelity's 2021 Investor Insights Study, more than half (58 percent) of advised investors stated they would switch financial advisers if any report of cybercrime or security breaches were into their advice firm's customer accounts.
Over the last three years, advisor outsourcing has also increased. Approximately a quarter (24 percent) of advisers questioned by Fidelity completely outsource IT, technology, platform development, and cybersecurity to third-party organizations. Outsourcing IT, technology, platform development, or cybersecurity is most frequently done to address a lack of internal expertise in these areas (46percent), followed by a desire to maximize overall business efficiency or productivity (37percent), cost-effectiveness (33 percent), and risk to the firm (32 percent ). 69 percent of advisers successfully outsourced IT, technology, platform development, or cybersecurity, claiming time savings, increased efficiency, and improved service quality.
“Financial advisors are continuously faced with email fraud that targets humans and workflows rather than any security system,” says DJ Sampath, Co-founder and CEO at Armorblox. “By understanding the context of these emails like a human would, Armorblox protects users from potential risk like the loss of money or sensitive data. Our work with Fidelity strives to provide greater benefit to the advisor community and their end clients.”
Fidelity is committed to making significant investments in technology across the organization, leveraging its size to develop innovative capabilities that meet its clients' unique needs. By gaining access to this cybersecurity product, Fidelity can strengthen its existing client connections. Advisors can obtain additional information by contacting their Fidelity relationship manager.
