The assumption that cybersecurity is only a concern for the IT department is not only wrong but also dangerous. In practice, security should be a companywide collaborative effort. This includes the marketing team, which often has access to sensitive customer data and proprietary information.
Any vulnerable department can serve as an entry point for malicious actors to carry out cyber attacks to disrupt work. Additionally, if an attacker accesses and defaces your marketing channels, expect the business’s reputation to be damaged as well. This is why you do not want the marketing team to be the first domino to fall.
Understanding the Cybersecurity Risks for Marketing Teams
First, your marketing team has to understand the different cyber threats they’ll be facing. Remember, attackers want your customer data and access to your online platforms, and they have several sneaky ways to get this.
One method that proves effective time and time again is social engineering. This is a manipulation tactic to get people into handing over sensitive information without them realizing. In most cases, social engineering is disguised as innocent communication.
A phishing scam is one of the most common forms of social engineering carried out via email. Phishing works like this: an employee on your marketing team may receive a bogus company raffle email, a fraudulent survey, or a deceptive file request from another department. Employees who fail to recognize phishing warning signs, such as unusual sender addresses or unexpected requests, can fall for such scams and get attacked.
These emails frequently appear legitimate, which makes them convincing to those who are not vigilant. Eventually, engaging with a phishing email could expose sensitive company information and lead to a breach.
If a data breach occurs through these attacks, the situation can get worse. Stolen credentials can be used to access more sensitive data. On top of that, such incidents damage the company’s reputation, making it appear untrustworthy to clients, and it may also result in legal action due to data protection violations.
Do you see how that one phishing link someone clicked is like a snowball that can turn into an avalanche? And this only covers social engineering attacks that can target your marketing team.
Best Practices for Cybersecurity in Marketing
Of course, the marketing team doesn’t have to learn every type of cyber threat they may encounter. In fact, a more practical step to take is to practice good security hygiene.
Secure all accounts and devices
Most companies nowadays have a strict password policy, requiring employees to have strong passwords. Your role is to make sure all members of the marketing team are following the policy. To guarantee this, consider using business password managers, which will help maintain compliance, securely store passwords, and promote the use of strong, unique credentials.
Handle sensitive data properly
Double-check that only the marketing team and authorized individuals have access to sensitive data. This is known as proper access control. Conversely, the marketing team shouldn’t have access to company data, which they don’t need to see. If they do, this means any unwanted visitors who breach your team will have the same access.
Another important note is regarding data storage. No one from the marketing team should be recklessly saving important files in unsecured locations. Your business should have data storage and disposal policies that follow already existing compliance and data privacy regulations.
Recognize and respond to threats
If your employees can tell if someone is trying to phish them, that’s great. However, they also need to know what to do after. Aside from not clicking on anything suspicious, the marketing team should always contact the company’s security team to report such an incident.
Solid communication between the marketing and IT departments is necessary for enhancing the company’s overall security posture. The same can be said for every other department. So feel free to ask other departments about their incident response plan and learn what role your team can play to make the IT team’s job easier when a breach occurs.
Ensure remote employees access systems securely
If someone on the team is working remotely, they should follow the company’s remote access policy, which includes using a company-provided VPN to encrypt their data traffic. This policy should be followed even if a team member is working outside the office for only a short period.
There’s a myriad of VPN for US plans out there. So, talk to your company’s IT team to see which one would suit your marketing team best.
Marketing and Security: Partners in Protection
Although it may seem like an additional burden amidst the busy marketing work, prioritizing security will eventually become second nature for all team members. Developing good security habits will not make security feel less like an added task. Instead, it will also provide everyone with peace of mind, knowing that they are actively protecting the business from security threats.
