4 Things Internet Marketers Need to Know About Cybersecurity

Marketing and cybersecurity typically aren’t two things you’d typically see in the same sentence. These days, however, almost everything involves cybersecurity.

As a marketer, your main role is to help yourself or your company sell more stuff. The last thing on your mind is how to protect your security infrastructure. That’s not your problem, that’s the cybersecurity team’s problem, right?

Wrong. Everyone who uses the internet is responsible in some form or fashion for cyber defense. It’s actually critical to any strong security program that this is the case. Below are 4 things that all internet marketers need to know about cybersecurity.

1. You Are Your Own Worst Enemy

Hackers have gotten much smarter over the last several years. One prime example of this is that they now understand the easiest way to access your information – by you just giving it to them.

Many techniques used by malicious hackers involve some form of phishing, click-bait, or programs that run off unsecure websites. Your best defense against this is to first educate yourself to be aware of the most common cyber-attacks, and second, to practice smart web-surfing (only visiting secure https:// sites).

Also, you need to be creating and using strong passwords. “1-2-3-4-5” isn’t something you should ever be using to protect your accounts, no matter how easy it is to remember.

2. Your Social Media Accounts Could Be Hacked

A great deal of marketing these days has extreme focus on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. For good reason, too. There are billions of people on these websites, so you’d be foolish not to use them.

But would you ever have thought that the accounts – no matter how small – you manage could be hacked? The last thing you want to come into work to is a social media account that’s being held for ransom.

Be aware of the risks that are present in the cybersecurity realm. Talk to your security team to learn what you can do to help. If you don’t have one, look up ways to protect yourself from cyber-attacks and implement them immediately.

3. Your Blog Could Be Hacked

Another major sector of marketing is content marketing. Just like your social media accounts, your website or blog are also susceptible to cybercrime. When an account is compromised, it can greatly disrupt your content marketing strategy and even cause you to lose a bunch of valuable work you’ve done.

Much like above, learn from your security team to learn what you can do to stay protected. They likely have some sort of internet monitoring software that they can use to pinpoint where the attack took place. You should also back-up your website on a regular basis in a secure location. This makes the headache of an attack much more tolerable.

4. Responding Fast and Intelligently to Cyber-Attacks Is Key

In the event of a security breach, you should handle your next steps with caution. In addition to not allowing the hacker to gain any more information, you also want to restore your system back to a safe configuration and set up constant attack surface management in the future.

As a marketer, once again, the best thing you can do is contact an expert in cybersecurity to help walk you through the aftermath.

Conclusion

Marketers may not want to learn about the wonderful world of cybersecurity, but it’s now a must for everyone. You, your company’s, or your customers’ private data is at stake, and you don’t want to be the reason someone’s information was compromised or worse.

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