A Gartner research study based on analyst experience and over 2,000 Gartner inquiries with clients over a year found that organisations are siloed in their approach to threat intelligence leading to ineffective prioritisation of requirements. And, by 2026, 50% of the intelligence programs will fail to address organisational risk due to a lack of effective PIRs (Priority Intelligence Requirements).
Simply put, a lack of planning against data breach can overwhelm organisations with inefficient alerting leading to lost security programs. To regain the efficiency of security programs, it’s important to understand the basics and formalise their data security intelligence capability.
What Is Data Breach?
A data breach is a situation when an unauthorised entry point enters a corporation’s database to enable cybercriminals to access customers’ personal data like passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, banking information, medical records and more.
Simply put, data breaches usually occur when hackers gain access to marketing automation platforms and obtain crucial and sensitive data like passwords, bank details and much more. It happens when these platforms aren’t properly secured. This can happen when there are no data security protocols in place, phishing attacks, insecure data storage, poor data management and so on.
How Do You Manage Data Breaches With A Marketing Automation Platform?
A well-managed marketing automation platform puts data security as the topmost priority. After all, these platforms consist of sensitive information that might compromise if security protocols aren’t in line.
10 Ways To Avoid Data Breach Using A Marketing Automation Platform:
1. Reputation Of The Platform
Use a marketing automation platform that’s safe, secure, credible and certified. The marketing automation platform that you chose for your business’s data security must be ISO certified. It’s a certificate provided by the multi-channel marketing automation provider after examining information security risks.
After going through the information security management system that’s specific to every organisation, the platform is then examined by the auditor after risk treatment and regular security controls. Certification is a symbol of credibility and professionalism.
2. Up-To-Date Software
Whatever marketing automation platform you’re using, make sure it’s the updated version. Outdated software has security vulnerabilities that might be exploited by hackers. Updating software means you’re closing the security loopholes, making it difficult for hackers to gauge the data.
3. A User-Oriented Platform
Make sure that the marketing automation platform is user-oriented in a way that it doesn’t expose data to a lack of security protocols, unreliable systems, lack of transparency, etc. There has to be a defined approach to infrastructure standards and security systems with proper data storage and consent from the customers.
4. Limit User Access To Maintain Privacy
The marketing automation platform that you choose must have privacy provisions to make the data accessible to authorised users only. One can enable view, edit or delete data on the basis of limited user access so that data is not misused or overexposed to those who are unauthorised.
5. Encryption
While accessing a marketing automation platform, it’s crucial to use a secure connection like (https://) that encrypts the data transmitted between the platform and your computer, making it difficult for hackers to read your data.
6. Enabling 2FA & Strong Password
With 2FA, you’ll have to enter additional passwords and codes to log into your account. This makes it difficult for hackers to gain access to your account, even if they have the first password. Meanwhile, changing passwords regularly by creating strong passwords helps in data security.
7. Employee Training
It is crucial that internal teams using the marketing automation platform are given security training to ensure your data is not violated and to recognise potential threats to data security at regular intervals.
8. Using A VPN To Backup Data
One of the easiest ways to protect data is by downloading a VPN to increase your privacy. A VPN encrypts all the traffic between your marketing automation platform and computer, making it cumbersome for hackers to perform their stealing operations.
9. Delete Unnecessary Data
The less data you store on your marketing automation platform, the less the risk of it being hacked. Deleting unnecessary data is one of the best security measures that you can take to manage and prevent data breaches.
10. Compliance With Industry-Specific Regulations
Complying with industry-specific regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, etc. totally depends on what region the customer is in. For instance, you can check for the CIPP certification. Company staff must have the CIPP certification for the specific matching regions especially when it comes to marketing automation platforms. CIPP, the most encompassing certification for data protection and privacy ensures meticulous training in privacy-enabling technologies to help companies handle all legal requirements.
Let’s Commit To Prioritising Privacy!
Unfortunately, most data breaches occur because companies turn a blind eye to solvable rifts in their security like weak passwords, malware attacks, and outdated software vulnerabilities. To avoid this, it’s important to prioritise security efforts like data protection, and providing security shields to the customers and company data from malicious cybercriminals.
About TransFunnel
Being a HubSpot Onboarding, HubSpot Platform Enablement and HubSpot CRM Implementation accredited partner, TransFunnel can help you use HubSpot the right way to grow your business and drive ROI.
Your marketing and sales teams can do more important tasks at hand and gain efficiency, while we help them automate their individual efforts. We ensure they get the most out of their marketing automation platform along with ensuring data security.
Get in touch for marketing automation consulting with our experts!
