Brand Reputation Includes Cyber Safety

To gather and pass on cyber intelligence, I interviewed Joseph Schramm, VP of Strategic Alliances at Beyond Trust, a global cyber security company dedicated to proactively eliminating data breaches from insider privilege abuse and external hacking attacks.

How has Cyber Security Become Marketing’s Responsibility?

Marketing collects tons of Big Data and, in the simplest terms, if malicious actors get to your data, your brand can be tarnished.

“CMOs are tasked with brand management, and a brand’s reputation is likely to be the most visibly damaged asset in the aftermath of a breach. Likewise, data-driven marketing is fueled by customer trust. Preparation, protection and responsiveness are key to containing the damage and preserving that trust.

The cyber stakes are higher than ever before, and we’re not just talking about personal information and identity theft any more. High-level corporate secrets, vital infrastructure and brand image are constantly under attack.” Steve Durbin, Managing Director, Information Security Forum (ISF).

You might have heard by now that the majority of security threats come from the inside. Your own employees are most likely to jeopardize your cyber security, either due to naiveté or because they are bad apples.

A recent study by Trend Micro found that “around 3 percent of employees would give up [private company] information for only $155”.

Security Intelligence via IBM

Of course, the list of external malicious attacks (counting for about ¼ of all breaches) is increasing, including phishing, hacking, mimicking, click fraud, malvertising and the next thing you haven’t heard of yet.

To quote Steve Durbin, Managing Director at ISF once more:
“With the increased use, integration and interconnection of mobile devices, the network perimeter is blurry and porous, complicating security efforts. Marketers must incorporate security frameworks into their strategic marketing plans and determine how to solicit and deliver valuable customer insights safely.”

Hence, I call Brand and Reputation Management one of marketing’s key responsibilities in 2016. Protect your customer data and don’t end up in the news for the wrong reasons.

So What Can Be Done?
Of course, appointing a Chief Security Information Officer (CSIO) is great if you have the resources, and collaboration between executive functions is a must. But companies of any size can create a security culture by educating their employees about (ever evolving) cyber threats and limiting admin privileges to sensitive data.

Data-driven marketing has been a key driver of competitive differentiation via improved customer experience but it also means that marketers are collecting, storing and accessing more data than ever before. Marketing has become a big hacker attack target.

Personally, I don’t see a way forward without using technology and services to protect a brand’s reputation, even though that might be a daunting prospect for many companies. If anything, I see the cyber threat growing.

B2C: