In marketing, all people think about is coming up with the next groundbreaking branding opportunity or strategy to take their business to the next level. With so much focus on the nitty-gritty details in marketing, people tend to overlook security.
This article will explain why marketers should put security first. We’ll highlight the risk associated with marketing-related security breaches and explain how to prevent them.
Why Security Matters In Marketing?
Since marketing is a customer-facing activity, most marketing efforts directly deal with sensitive customer or prospect data. This includes but is not limited to, personal information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, and credit card information.
Marketers are responsible for ensuring this data is secure and protected from cyber threats, hacking attempts, and other data breaches. Many countries have laws and regulations that require companies to protect customer data. Failing to do so can bring legal trouble and tarnish your reputation.
Main Security Risks In Marketing
Bots
Bots are everywhere on the internet. It’s no wonder so many sites want to verify you’re human before you enter. That’s exactly what you should do if you don’t want bots to use your site and assets to gather data.
Some data bots gather is beneficial, such as SEO ranking, but some can be useless and even harmful. For example, bots can click on your pay-per-click ads. So, essentially, you’re paying for clicks that aren’t even real humans, let alone potential customers.
How to prevent:
Use the Google Analytics filtering feature to eliminate hits that seem suspicious. A lot of visits from the same IP address are a good indicator of bot activity. There are also online services that specialize in preventing ad fraud.
Content management systems
Content management systems (CMS) offer so much to marketers. Unfortunately, they’re also highly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Each plugin you add to your CMS is a new potential door for an attacker. Since most plugins are open-source, it’s hard to protect yourself unless the developers constantly update their tools to fix vulnerabilities.
Brute-force attacks are another attack vector with CMS. Attackers are always trying to exploit websites with default or weak login credentials.
How to prevent:
Whoever is running the CMS platform must prioritize updates. Updates must be installed immediately, or better yet – automatically. If you can trace any suspicious activity to a specific tool, uninstall it immediately. Additionally, you should delete plugins you aren’t actively using.
To protect yourself from brute-force attacks, you must set strong passwords for your CMS login. Password managers are excellent tools that help you generate and securely store strong passwords.
Customer relationship management systems
As systems contain highly valuable customer and prospect data, CRMs are a high-priority target for hacking groups. For example, the popular hospitality CRM SevenRooms was targeted in a cyberattack in late 2022. Hackers got away with sensitive data belonging to SevenRooms customers and clients, which include international restaurant chains and hospitality giants.
There can be various consequences for a malware infection on your CRM. The malware could block you from accessing your data at all. Alternatively, cybercriminals may steal and sell your data or hold it for ransom.
How to prevent:
The entire organization must improve its security awareness to mitigate the risks associated with CRM platforms. Marketers must be knowledgeable and avoid downloading software from unreliable sources.
Moreover, it is recommended to impose limitations on software installations across all work computers to prevent malware infection and unauthorized access. Establishing a network that regularly creates “snapshots” or system backups stored off-site is also beneficial. This precautionary measure can effectively counter ransomware attacks by allowing the system to revert to the latest backup.
Email Threats
Email is one of the internet’s oldest inventions. Yet, it’s still among the most popular and powerful marketing tools.
But email is also the biggest source of cyberattacks. According to Deloitte research, 91% of all cyber attacks begin with a phishing email to an unexpected victim. Emails are a go-to option for attackers since they’re easy to spoof and distribute at scale.
How to prevent:
You can prevent phishing attempts by learning to recognize them. You should also notify customers if someone is imitating you or your business with a fake email address.
Final Thoughts
Security is rarely the first thing marketers think about. But, considering recent cyberattack statistics, it should be. There are many potential threats marketers face. For one, bots can bring harmful traffic, causing disruption and financial loss. Additionally, malware can spread across internal systems or phishing emails. Prioritizing security in your marketing efforts can help mitigate these threats.
