Cybersecurity is a topic that is routinely grabbing headlines across industries, and employee benefit plans are not immune to the risks of cybercrime. The best efforts to reduce these risks are multi-faceted approaches to protecting sensitive information, with employers, their plan participants, and their benefit providers all working in tandem to safeguard personal data.

Recently, Thomson Reuters interviewed Todd Larson, Chief Information Officer, Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group, for a expert Q&A session on Retirement Plans and Cybersecurity. Check out his answers to the following five questions:

• Who are the targets for cyber predators and how is the current environment conducive to attacking those parties?
• If plan sponsors or recordkeepers are required to authenticate participant accounts, why are cyber predators still able to gain access to those accounts?
• What strategies can be used by plan sponsors or recordkeepers for more effective authentication and overall security?
• Besides changes to authentication, what else should plan sponsors and recordkeepers be doing to prevent cyber predators from gaining access to participant accounts?
• Why should plan sponsors be pay attention to all of this?