Although cybersecurity may not be a priority for most marketers, it is becoming increasingly important in light of the rapidly changing threat landscape. Courtney Brady, ThreatBlockr's VP of Marketing, shares three key tips for helping marketers implement security awareness programs that will help them become more vigilant.
Cybersecurity might not be a top priority for marketers. It's the job of IT and security to protect company assets.
Online assets are more valuable than ever. This means that bad actors could tamper with any we publish (even if it does not contain sensitive data) and it could damage our reputations. Consider the horror stories about marketers' social media accounts being compromised and altered by unscrupulous posts and videos that appeared on company pages. This makes us cringe. It's because online fame is all in today's digital age.
Why is Cybersecurity Important for Marketing?
Although many companies may view marketing as "fluff", and ignore cybersecurity for marketing departments in general, it is important to recognize that marketers touch more vital company assets than we might think.
Bad actors can tamper with public-facing assets and can cause serious damage to your organization's credibility, as I have already mentioned. Consider all the company information you have on your website. Now think about how many people visit it each week. You may also be trying to increase traffic to your site. Think about all the visitors who see the incorrect information because a hacker gained access to your site editor, and messed up your website. Although it may not be sensitive data, this type of attack could have a significant impact on your company's reputation.
Marketing may also have access to sensitive information and has a large part of the responsibility for the website. Although the technical staff, such as IT, security, and development, may share some of this responsibility, the marketing department often holds the "keys" to the kingdom just as much as the other departments. The oWASP foundation which focuses on web app security identified Broken Access Control to be the top threat to web apps. This threat is defined as "permitting viewing/editing another's an account by providing its unique ID", and it's a serious concern. It doesn't matter who initially owned the credentials, malicious access to company credentials can allow them to make changes and gain access.
Three Cybersecurity Tips For Marketers
What are the best ways to protect your department from cyber-attacks, marketers? These are some tips that I recommend every company, no matter its size, should consider:
When Creating Your Marketing Tech Stack, be Selective
Consider your marketing tech stack. How many tools, widgets, and other pieces are on your website? If a bad actor attempts to mess with any of these components, it could be a liability. It's important to choose new tools carefully in order to prevent your marketing tech stack from becoming a backdoor into the company's website.
Marketing can be a game where we use "fancy tools", with chat features, heat maps, and automated data analysis pique our interest. It's easy to get caught up in the latest and greatest, but it is more important that you bring IT and security into every conversation. Even a single line of code could cause damage to your website if you don't do enough research.
Security Awareness Training is A Must for Your Entire Team
Your marketing tech stack can only be as secure as its users. It's only a matter of time before someone clicks on a link to phishing and compromises their credentials.
It's a sad fact that most people don’t think about security. The most used password is "123456". This password is easy to crack in under a minute. Discussions about cybersecurity best practices will be a benefit to your marketing team and other colleagues in your company.
Discuss Cybersecurity and Research It
You must first be able to understand cybersecurity before you can share it with your team. You don't have to dig too deeply into cybersecurity. It can make a huge difference to be familiar with cybersecurity basics. Marketers love to research.
It is important to keep up with cyber-attacks and their impact on your industry. Hackers often target verticals within an industry, so it is important to be aware of similar organizations that have been affected by attacks.
You can begin to research cybersecurity by following the relevant pages on social media. Or, be the one who initiates conversations in your existing networks about it. Get to know other marketers in your existing LinkedIn groups and Slack channels. This conversation will help spread awareness and provide insights to others who may be also working towards improving the risk profile of their organizations.
Make Your Marketing Tech More Secure
Instead of viewing this as a list to add to your already full plate, I hope these tips will be new opportunities to connect with other marketers on great innovation and work towards a better-streamlined technology stack in marketing. After all, a more selective tech stack not only improves your security but also helps you train new members and streamline processes. ).
We must remember, in the end, that by keeping our internet safety, we are contributing to a safer and better place for our families, friends, and communities.