Cyberthreats are on the rise in modern-day online businesses. As every business owner desires to have a strong footprint in the online space, caution has to be exercised so you don’t expose your business to attacks. Your business—and, more importantly, client—data ought to be kept private; else, leaks to cybercriminals can ruin the reputation of your business, result in loss of revenues, and lead to migration of your customers to your competitors.
To step up online security while doing your digital marketing processes in the United States—or anywhere in the world, for that matter—you may need to partner with cybersecurity companies such as Beryllium, LLC. For more information on how these companies help improve security in businesses’ digital marketing campaigns, you can visit the website.
With that said, from this article, you’ll learn the common cybersecurity challenges digital marketers are facing in their digital marketing endeavors:
Email Marketing
There are two challenges common to email marketing—spear phishing and phishing. While these two are very similar—that is, they both send emails to unwitting individuals—the former sends carefully written emails to get just one response. However, phishing attacks aren’t new, as many companies are using email marketing strategies for their marketing campaigns. Anthem, a health insurer, was attacked in 2015 through the use of email phishing. This attack cost Anthem approximately USD$100 million.
If you’re operating a small business, you ought to use up-to-date cybersecurity methods because you may be the target of many scammers. Attackers believe that small companies are ignorant of tight security measures. However, large businesses shouldn’t relax, as they can be caught unaware. Phishing attackers have also become more sophisticated in their strategies of breaching cybersecurity protocols.
The entry point of phishing attacks into your business is your customers where it’s easy to find a loophole. Attackers send emails with attachments and hyperlinks to get into your business, and unknowing and trusting clients enter personal details without regard for their security.
Social Media Marketing
Social media has become an outlet where many stores have opened shops. Using Instagram and Facebook, for instance, you can easily acquire, engage, and convert traffic into potential customers. However, this also opens the door for a myriad of cyberattacks.
A major problem with social media marketing is identity theft. If an attacker happens to crack your password, they can engage in unauthorized downloads, exploit your customers, or share your confidential information. To enhance your security on social media, you could do the following:
- Have strong password encryption
- Monitor every activity on your account
- Have tough privacy policies
- Regularly change your password
- Educate your employees on the secure use of social media
Content Marketing
Most content marketing attacks are done through content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. Malicious attackers could use distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to corrupt the infrastructure systems of your company. DDoS attacks can breach your data security by exposing it.
CMS providers must update the security of their platforms. Besides, as a marketer, you need to keep good security practices regardless of the CMS platform you’re using. Moreover, your account administrators ought to ensure that your server’s operating system and other security software are updated. When connecting to the CMS, always do that through secure networks. You couldn’t go wrong when you employ strong passwords for more security.
E-Commerce
E-commerce is one of the most challenging places for digital marketers. Many customers also understand the risk involved in sharing their personal financial information through e-commerce platforms, unless they trust your organization so much. This may be a barrier to your conversions, thus derailing your digital growth.
One challenge you could face if you don’t shore up your security is financial fraud, which can affect your ability to acquire and retain customers. When you increase your security, this soothes your customers’ fears regarding online transactions with your business.
To boost your security, use secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol, coupled with the two-factor authentication process, especially when offering a secure and safe payment procedure to your customers. The bank and card details of your customers should be protected from leaking to scammers. The two mostly used security protocols in securing online financial transactions are hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) and SSL. Know that one instance of leakage can destroy the good reputation of your brand, resulting in revenue losses.
Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are prone to cyberattacks through their functions. These functions include acquiring, identifying, and storing customer data, which can be used in digital marketing strategies such as email marketing.
Cybercriminals may use attacks such as DDoS, data breaches, identity theft, and malware when looking for vulnerabilities in CRM systems. CRMs are linked to several departments and different platforms, which may result in a security gap. Thus, you have to tighten up each department with good security measures while handling your CRM software. Besides, you can improve your security through firewalls, strong passwords, security software, and virtual private networks.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is an essential aspect of boosting your company’s reach in today’s business world. However, caution should be exercised so you don’t expose your business to cyberattacks. Reputable cybersecurity agencies can help you improve your cybersecurity in your various marketing strategies such as email marketing, social media marketing, e-commerce marketing, among others. This is one investment you can’t pass on.