Context
MGAA has published an article from Intersys, which reflects on highlights from Cyber Awareness Month in October, which provided a useful spotlight on the risks and responsibilities businesses face in today’s digital economy.
Key points to note and next actions
For Managing General Agents (MGAs), cyber resilience is a constant discipline that shapes credibility with carriers and brokers, underpinning the trust that supports the delegated authority model. The question for MGAs now is how to carry that attention into 2026 with strategies that make resilience a natural part of growth.
The rapid expansion of the MGA sector makes the market more attractive to cyber criminals, therefore increasing not only direct cyber risks, but also exposures to third-party vulnerabilities.
Third-party risk management is now a central issue. A breach at a cloud provider, outsourced claims handler or data supplier can quickly spread into the MGA’s operations. What begins as a supplier problem can escalate into a service disruption or reputational crisis.
Data breaches remain a primary concern, with MGAs often handling sensitive information from policyholder records to underwriting models. If this data is exposed through a third party, the consequences are financial penalties, loss of trust and possible regulatory action.
Operational disruption is another risk. If a ransomware attack or outage affects a supplier, it can halt underwriting or claims services at critical moments. Reputation is always fragile. A single vendor incident can damage an MGA’s standing with capacity providers and brokers. Once trust is lost, it is difficult to recover.
For MGAs, resilience in 2026 must be built into everyday operations. Formal third-party risk frameworks, helping firms to classify suppliers, set risk thresholds and ensure security checks are carried out as part of routine governance. Contracts should set clear obligations around data protection, breach notification and cooperation in the event of an incident. Continuous monitoring is also essential.
Cyber resilience must move from being a background concern to a visible part of an MGA’s value proposition. Generic IT support will not be enough to reassure capacity providers or regulators.