Why Your Marketing Campaigns Could Put Your Company’s Digital Security at Risk

Why Your Marketing Campaigns Could Put Your Company’s Digital Security at Risk

Social media In the modern day, social media should be an integral part of marketing for every business. Human mistakes The most common social media breach is when an employee accidentally shares unacceptable content. Brand hijacking When an employee posts something inappropriate on social media, it’s likely to be accidental – but if a hacker takes over your account, you can expect some serious hostility. Also, be careful when clicking on social media links. Many plugins contain vulnerabilities that can leave you open to an attack. To be extra safe, consider only downloading plugins from WordPress.org. I recommend using SSL to encrypt data and keep your admin dashboard secure. Email security tips Research indicates that 63% of data breaches are due to poor outsourcing decisions. As an email marketer, you’re also a data gatekeeper. Do you have any tips for performing marketing safely and securely?

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Why Your Marketing Campaigns Could Put Your Company’s Digital Security at Risk

Successfully executing a digital marketing campaign will result in a number of benefits for your business, such as: increased brand awareness, higher SERP rankings, increased website traffic and most importantly, sales.

But what about the downside of digital marketing?

The more you grow your online presence, the more your website becomes a juicy target for hackers.

I don’t enjoy scaremongering, but data security breaches are a real threat.

Estimates suggest that the worldwide cost of cybercrime will increase to $2 trillion by 2019. Despite this, 87% of CIOs believe their security controls are failing to protect their business.

Here are some of the ways that your digital marketing strategy might be leaving your business vulnerable, and how you can fix them.

Social media

In the modern day, social media should be an integral part of marketing for every business. While social media is a powerful tool for staying connected with your audience, there are also risks that can leave you exposed.

Human mistakes

The most common social media breach is when an employee accidentally shares unacceptable content.

While most accidental status updates are nowhere near as catastrophic as what US Airways posted in 2014, mildly inappropriate or unprofessional content will still erode the integrity of your brand.

Red Cross had a damaging incident when an employee posted an unprofessional update on the brand’s official page when it was intended for their private account.

I recommend creating a documented style guide for social media containing instructions for your tone of voice, images used and preferred methods for interacting with followers.

Everyone who posts on behalf of your brand should read the document thoroughly and receive proper training. One mistake can have a long-lasting impact, so only entrust your social media channels to your most trustworthy employees.

Brand hijacking

When an employee posts something inappropriate on social media, it’s likely to be accidental – but if a hacker takes over your account, you can expect some serious hostility.

A few years ago, a hacker took over the Twitter account of Burger King and rebranded it to look like McDonald’s.

After posting a string of absurd tweets, the account was eventually suspended. It’s believed that a weak password choice for Burger King’s account enabled this breach to take place.

When choosing a password for your social media accounts, include a range of letters, numbers and special characters. Including at least one capitalized letter is well advised.

Common passwords such as your birthday, name, “qwerty” and “123456” should be avoided.

Incredibly, over 50% of people use one of the top 25 most common passwords. Don’t be part of this group.

Also, be careful when clicking on social media links. If you click on the wrong link, you could inadvertently become victim of a malicious attack that will allow a hacker to access you social media account or even worse, your computer.

Not so long ago, the devious Locky app targeted social networks by sneaking malicious code into image files.

Hover over all links before you click to ensure they’re from a reputable website and consider using a link scanner like URLVoid to be extra careful.

For long-term protection, consider purchasing ZeroFox. This tool scans social media every day and detects impersonations as well as other malicious activities.

If you suspect your account has been hacked, I recommend contacting a cyber security consultant immediately.

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