Is there trust in cybersecurity and data privacy in 2023?

Cybersecurity and data privacy seem like very technical terms, and while they are very complex, they are also deeply enmeshed in almost everyone's lives. Most people have experienced at minimum, a minor data breach in their time, and others will likely go through one soon.

Whether you're leading a company that's concerned with protecting the privacy of your customers or an individual who has certain expectations of your data protection vendor, there's an uncomfortable question floating out there in 2023...

Is there trust in cybersecurity and data privacy anymore?

Today we want to discuss marketing's role in cybersecurity, the major breaches that have undermined consumer trust over the past few years, and some tried and true mitigation strategies for cybersecurity that can prevent as many issues as possible, leaving people with a better impression of your Brand.

Marketing's role in cybersecurity

Marketing is proactive and sales-forward. Marketers work with other departments in advance of a breach and help to maintain your Brand's reputation if one does occur.

Even without being breached, your marketing team:

• Considers breach repercussions that can deal out reputation damage and lays out strategic communication plans to leverage if the worst occurs.
• Establishes a strong security Brand position and reputation through ongoing marketing efforts and consistency that can mean faster recovery from problems like ransomware attacks or supply chain breaches.
• Promotes the fact that data-safe companies foster an environment that is innovative and growth-minded.
• Uses security as a selling point and a market differentiator in all communications. They also work with sales to further this message to leads.
  

After a breach your marketing team:

• Works to re-establish credibility and helps convince consumers of your initial claims or promises.
• Assists sales in earning new customers, post-breach.
• Manages the Brand's reputation after any fallout through public relations (PR).
• Deals with any social media backlash.
• Combats skepticism of a Brand's ability to recover post-breach.

Major breaches & their repercussions

Facebook

What happened? In 2018, Facebook allowed the personal data of millions of users to be improperly accessed.

What did they do wrong? They mishandled data.

What was the result?

• In the first full month after the data breach, the number of engagements decreased by almost 20% and continued to trend downward.
• A hashtag campaign (#DeleteFacebook) was launched.
• Facebook is no longer as trusted as it once was.

Equifax

What happened? In 2017, Equifax experienced a massive breach that exposed the personal and financial information of around 143 million consumers.

What did they do wrong? They responded too slowly.

What was the result?

• The breach eroded consumer trust, as the company was criticized for its response time and inadequate security practices.
• Consumers felt their sensitive information was mishandled, leading to a widespread perception that Equifax did not prioritize their data security.

Target

What happened? In 2013, Target's data breach exposed the credit and debit card information of 40 million+ customers during the holiday season.

What did they do wrong? They didn't have enough visibility into the lack of internal control over their vital security processes. More specifically, their third-party vendor’s access was flawed, and they weren't aware of it.

What was the result?

• The company’s profits and stock price fell.
• The breach damaged the company's reputation as customers worried about the security of their financial data while shopping.
• Target struggled to regain consumer trust, leading to a decline in sales and a long-term impact on its brand perception.

While it is too soon to know the full scale of damage they've incurred, here are some ChatGPT-related breaches you may have heard about.

1. OpenAI’s ChatGPT exposed the payment-related and other sensitive information of 1.2% of its ChatGPT Plus subscribers due to a bug in an open-source library it used.
2. Samsung's semiconductor recorded several incidents where employees accidentally leaked company information when using ChatGPT.

How to use cybersecurity measures to build trust and loyalty

The likelihood that your company will suffer a data breach at some point is a reality that you need to face head-on. While a break in your security may be inevitable, you can proactively minimize your risk and plan to mitigate the fallout. These are proven ways to boost trust and Brand loyalty.

Before you launch a business or a new website

1. Use Multi-Factor Authentication within your organization.
2. Protect your website against Denial of Service attacks.
3. Perform a penetration test on your website.
4. Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning roles to your content team.
5. Train your entire team on preventative security. For example: avoiding phishing attacks, password management and standards, and personal and professional device use.
6. Be ready to pivot from existing technologies or services when they no longer meet your security goals.
7. Create a written information security policy and inform employees.
8. Think about the physical security of your assets like on-premises servers, your internet access hardware, and any other sensitive data housing.
9. Do an audit of your third-party vendors so that you fully understand any potential vulnerabilities.
10. Ensure that you are meeting all relevant compliance standards like PCI, HIPAA, or GDPR if applicable.
11. Consider how you will strike a balance between personalization, privacy, and user experience.
12. Get your marketing team together with your cybersecurity team to ensure data privacy and ethical data usage, while simultaneously harnessing the power of data analytics to create targeted and impactful marketing campaigns.
13. Champion storytelling in cybersecurity to communicate policies internally and externally.
14. As they surface, generate policies and standards for the use of emerging tools like AI.
15. Ensure your application or website is served with the latest security-focused HTTP headers and modern TLS protocols.

If you DO suffer a breach...

1. Reassure customers of your commitment to their protection using multiple forms of communication (letters, email, social, portal messages, etc. to hit all your demographics).
2. Offer protection options post-breach, but not necessarily outright compensation as that can be an admission of guilt and may be taken negatively.
3. Provide educational materials (what happened, what they can do, what you are doing... )
4. Work with marketing to protect your Brand on social media channels, through PR, etc.
5. If you haven't already, refer to the list above this one and implement those security measures.

Breaches happen. We live in a modern world with smart people who don't always do the right thing, but how you prepare for and respond to attacks is what matters when it comes to protecting your Brand and building trust in the long term.

Do you have a project that needs expert security guidance? Let's talk.