Cybersecurity for Third-Party Administrators

TPA Cybersecurity That Meets DOL Standards

The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has published 12 cybersecurity best practices for recordkeepers and other service providers that handle plan IT systems and data, and plan fiduciaries use them to choose and monitor providers. If your TPA handles participant data for ERISA-covered plans — 401(k), profit sharing, cash balance, ESOP and ERISA-covered 403(b) plans, as well as health and welfare plans — those best practices are the yardstick you will be measured against. Governmental 403(b) and 457(b) plans fall outside ERISA, but public employers often ask for the same controls by contract (see what applies when ERISA doesn’t).

Since January 2026, cybersecurity has been one of six EBSA national enforcement projects. In September 2024, Compliance Assistance Release 2024-01 confirmed the guidance applies to all ERISA-covered plans, and its best practices are addressed to recordkeepers and other service providers, including TPAs. In FY 2025, EBSA recovered $1.4 billion for plans, participants and beneficiaries; its 878 closed civil investigations recovered $714.4 million. TPA IT security is no longer aspirational—it's under active regulatory scrutiny.

TPAIT's cybersecurity services are built around all 12 DOL best practices. For a detailed breakdown of each practice and how to implement it, see our DOL Cybersecurity Compliance Guide.

Five Layers Between Threats and Participant Data

What We Protect and How

Continuous Threat Monitoring

Our 24/7 Security Operations Center monitors your entire TPA environment—endpoints, servers, email, and network traffic. Threats are detected in minutes, not months. When a breach can go unnoticed for months — WebTPA’s went undetected for more than eight months — continuous monitoring is the single most impactful control you can deploy.

Endpoint Detection & Response

Every workstation and server in your environment runs EDR/MDR agents that detect suspicious behavior, isolate compromised machines, and alert our security team in real time. That is how we stop an intruder from moving from one machine to the next, the step that turns one compromised computer into a firm-wide breach.

Email Security & Anti-Phishing

Phishing and social engineering remain leading entry points in retirement plan breaches, and the human element is involved in 62% of breaches overall (Verizon 2026 DBIR). We deploy advanced email filtering, impersonation detection, and URL sandboxing to stop malicious messages before they reach your team. Combined with regular phishing simulations, your staff becomes your strongest defensive layer instead of your weakest.

Access Control & Identity Management

Multi-factor authentication on all internet-exposed systems, phishing-resistant where possible—DOL’s best practices, updated in September 2024, call for MFA on internet-facing systems and phishing-resistant MFA if possible. Role-based access controls ensure staff only access the participant data they need. Quarterly access reviews and automated deprovisioning for terminated employees close the gaps that lead to insider threats.

Encryption & Data Protection

Participant PII is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+) across your entire environment. Backup data is encrypted with separate key management. When a plan sponsor asks "is our participants' data encrypted?"—you answer yes with documentation to prove it.

Incident Response & Recovery

We maintain a documented, tested incident response plan for your TPA. Within minutes of detection, our team isolates affected systems and begins containment. Within hours, threats are analyzed and eradicated. Recovery from immutable backups typically happens same day or next business day. You receive a written incident timeline for regulatory reporting, breach notification support if PII was compromised, and evidence for cyber insurance claims.

Vulnerability Management

Continuous vulnerability scanning identifies weaknesses before attackers do. Critical patches are deployed within 24 hours. Regular penetration testing validates your defenses against real-world attack techniques. Dark web monitoring alerts us if your TPA's credentials or data appear in threat actor marketplaces.

Security Awareness Training

Monthly phishing simulations and quarterly training sessions tailored to TPA-specific threats: fraudulent distribution requests, plan sponsor impersonation, and social engineering targeting participant data. We track completion rates and remediate failures—giving you documented evidence of employee training for DOL audits.