Cybersecurity Awareness Applies to Marketers

You’ve probably seen posts about cybersecurity awareness month. This applies to marketing, too! And it goes way beyond secure passwords and avoiding phishing scams.

Marketers handle more data than ever, which means we also hold more responsibility. Privacy isn’t just a box to check. It’s part of how we earn and keep trust.


Here are three areas to remember:

1. Privacy

Be transparent about what you’re data collecting and why. That includes cookie consent on your site, opt-ins for marketing communications, and disclosure when sharing data with third parties.

Managing consent properly means segmenting your audiences, storing data securely, and following clear retention policies.

And a quick word on personally identifiable information (PII)... it’s so much more than birth dates and social security numbers! Email addresses and IP addresses are PII and must be kept secure.

2. Data

How we collect, store, and use data needs to be done securely. Depending on your organization, you may need to focus on compliance with regulations and standards; things like GDPR, CCPA, ISO, HIPPA, and many more.

3. Access and Tools

Access management matters just as much. Limit not only who has access to your tools, but what level of access they have. Follow the principle of least privilege: each person should only have the permissions they need to do their job.

Finally, most marketing tools operate outside of IT’s direct management, which makes it our responsibility to ensure they meet the same security and privacy standards as the rest of the organization. This means unique and strong passwords, one account per person, and using multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever it’s an option.

Privacy isn’t someone else’s job. It’s marketing’s responsibility, too. How are you rethinking your cybersecurity strategy this month

More on Cybersecurity and Marketing

A presentation I shared with MBA students at the University at Albany: download