If you think cybersecurity is something only the IT teams should be focusing on, you are wrong!
As a digital marketer, you will be handling lots of sensitive data, including customer credentials and financial data.
If you look at the cybercrime stats, it’s said that there’s a hacker attack every 39 seconds. It’s also reported that 86 percent of data breaches were driven by financial gains.
So, not incorporating cybersecurity measures with your digital marketing strategies will result in a substantial financial loss. Moreover, when a data breach occurs in a digital marketing firm, it affects a broad audience.
For instance, if you share a link to a site that hosts malware, its effect will be quite destructive as you’ll be doing so using a trusted online source.
Cybersecurity should be everyone’s concern and a top priority if you are a digital marketer.
Here are five crucial points that emphasize why cybersecurity is essential in your business’s digital marketing.
More than 90 percent of hacking attacks start with an email.
Nine in ten hacking attacks begin with an email. It’s a known fact that marketing teams spend a lot of time sending and responding to emails.
Chances are that your digital team could be sending sensitive data without using encryption. This can pose a significant threat to your firm’s security.
Since email messages usually contain valuable data, such as financial information, corporate strategies, and so on, email messages are the prime targets of fraudsters.
Using Google’s confidential mode is one way to ensure that only the intended recipient can read the messages sent.
Another way to safeguard your email against hackers is to use end-to-end encryption. You can switch to a secure email provider that creates E2E into their product.
The second major threat linked to email is phishing. Statistics reveal that 96 percent of attempted phishing attacks are carried out via email. Also, a single spear-phishing attack can cost you a loss of $1.6 million on average.
Since human intelligence and knowledge is considered the greatest defense against phishing attacks, your digital team should be trained on how to recognize a phishing email.
Here are some red-flags to pay attention to when looking for a phishing email.
- Generic greetings
- Public domain email address
- An odd or unexpected attachment
- Urgent messages
- Links to an unrecognized or misspelled email add
- Misspelled words or grammatical errors
Marketing teams are vulnerable to malware attacks.
Modern malware has evolved. There are new functions that have raised the bar when it comes to infection rates.
Modern spyware can record passwords and keystrokes. There is also ransomware that can encrypt your website’s sensitive data. You’ll be allowed to decrypt it only after paying a ransom.
Marketing teams are victims of several malware attacks since they have to communicate with teams and clients daily. There are several purposes of malware attacks. It could be to steal personal data, utilize the infected device to spam others, take over an infected device and regulate it remotely, or for spying purposes.
Thus, your marketing team must be aware of the links they are clicking on and implement antivirus extensions on the different software they use.
If your team is using torrent websites for file sharing and downloading, ensure that you choose only the most reputed torrent sites. Also, it’s wise to use a VPN to change your IP address and stay anonymous while downloading torrents.
On average, ransomware costs businesses around $133,000. It is also estimated that the international cost of malware will hit $6 trillion by 2021. So, make sure you train your marketing team to identify and deal with such threats.
Your WordPress website may get hacked.
As per WordFence reports, WordPress websites receive nearly 90,000 attacks per minute. It is also said that of the 3,972 known WordPress vulnerabilities, 52 percent are due to plugins, 37 percent are attributed to core WordPress files, while 11 percent are from Themes. Further, outdated websites are easy targets for hackers, allowing them to exploit the site.
All digital marketing teams need to manage WordPress websites at some point in time. Make sure they are using the latest versions of plugins, themes, and core site components.
Here are some other strategies to secure your WordPress website:
- Implementing an SSL certificate
- Using strong passwords
- Installing a WordPress backup solution
- Enabling a web application firewall
Your business probably isn’t prepared to tackle a cyberattack.
A survey that studied more than 4,000 organizations found that over 70 percent weren’t prepared to tackle even the simplest attempt at a cybersecurity breach. Is your business one of them?
A majority of firms are unprepared for a security breach. No wonder, only 25 percent of customers feel that their data is being handled responsibly by businesses.
Thus, your business must invest in cybersecurity to manage digital security well. Besides keeping yourself updated with the cybersecurity trends, your digital team or business should have a disaster recovery policy, allowing you to duly respond to cybersecurity incidents.
It is also equally crucial to have a business continuity plan that can help you operate even when you lack certain resources after a cybersecurity incident.
Your social media accounts can get hacked.
Digital marketers often neglect securing their social media accounts as the providers are already trying their best to improve security.
Remember the 2020 Roblox hack where attackers seized gaming accounts to spread pro-Trump election propaganda?
It can happen to your business, causing severe damage to your reputation. Strengthen the passwords of your social media accounts. Moreover, restrict access and implement two-factor authentication for security.
Wrapping Up
Cybersecurity should be a concern of not only the IT team but everyone involved in the business. Digital teams handle a lot of personal and financial data, send links, and communicate with teams and clients across locations. All this makes it mandatory for firms to take the necessary online security measures. As cybersecurity trends keep evolving, make sure you keep yourself and your team updated, allowing you to uphold the security of your business. Boost your career in Cyber Security domain by taking simplilearn’s Cyber Security Certification.
