Marketing and cybersecurity

So you’re in the marketing department: make friends with the IT department. After all, if there is a data breach it is YOUR department that is going to have to rebuild TRUST with customers.

In that awful but all too familiar case of a data breach make sure all departments are on the same page so customers don’t receive conflicting messages.

Graphic from Wardini (2018)

As well as trust, there could be legal issues and privacy issues around a security breach. You should all agree with, and know, the CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN and who is part of the INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAM.

Marketing should tell IT about what they want to do, whether that be introducing new software or inviting entrants to a competition.

Marketers present an easy target for hackers because of their accessibility and their sizable presence on social media sites. Attracting new customers means contact with any number of random addresses. IT should make sure you don’t have access to any more information than you need.

Personally and professionally it is important to stay safe online. Everyone should follow these 6 easy steps:

(1) Lock or password protect ALL devices, including mobiles and tablets. A password should be 8 – 10 characters long. It should include upper- and lower-case characters, special characters and numerals. Locking devices can also be through a fingerprint or using a PIN code.

(2) Use a different password for everything: do not use the same one.

(3) Regularly update your devices.  Allow time at least weekly to restart and update your devices.

Did you know that for Microsoft Apps on average there is a coding error in every 2000 lines of code? And that a simple iphone game app uses 10,000 lines of code. No wonder manufacturers are continually issuing updates.

(4) Install anti-virus /anti-malware software on your machines.

(5) When searching or visiting new sites, look for the locked padlock and full https or http in the address. Look carefully at the email address of new senders. If it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Never click on an unknown link or open mail from a strange email address.

(6) Be especially careful when downloading ‘free’ software. You may be infecting your computer with malware

So, are you cyber-safe?  Do you automatically follow all six procedures?

References

Doughty-White, P. & Quick, M. (2015) Codebases. Information is Beautiful blog, Sept 24. https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/million-lines-of-code/

Gentle, T. (2019) Cybersecurity.  Small Business Victoria. Aug. 21  https://www.business.vic.gov.au/marketing-and-sales/eCommerce-and-digital-technology/cybersecurity

Hatter, M. (2016) Why cybersecurity should be a top priority for marketers.  Marketing, Sept. 21 https://www.marketingmag.com.au/hubs-c/marketers-and-cybersecurity/

Mayer, D. (2012) Ratio of bugs per line of code. Continuously Deployed blog. Nov. 11 https://www.mayerdan.com/ruby/2012/11/11/bugs-per-line-of-code-ratio

Ritzkallah, J (2017) The Role of Marketing in Cybersecurity. Forbes Technology Council, Dec.5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/12/05/the-role-of-marketing-in-cybersecurity/#7cdfe66b2027

Wardini, J. (2018) Marketing and Cybersecurity:  Why you need to care about data breaches.  Blog. https://mention.com/blog/marketing-cybersecurity/