Marketing nowadays isn’t limited to traditional methods like brochures or billboards. Digital marketing is a way to reach bigger audiences through more mediums the internet brings. Although wanting to reach more audiences and build a strong online presence also means creating a digital footprint. And in most cases, this exceeds just a trail of social media posts and campaigns.
Teams utilize a multitude of tools and project management platforms, and these often leave behind accessible data and outdated credentials that can be exploited. Wondering how to minimize your team’s digital footprint? Here’s everything you need to know.
How Does an Unchecked Digital Footprint Impact Your Company?
Most of us associate the term digital footprint exclusively with individuals and the trail of data their internet use creates. However, companies also create digital footprints, which are more complex and potentially more susceptible to attack.
It makes sensitive data prone to exposure
Marketing teams are responsible for much of any company’s data generation. They create ad campaigns, collect survey and analytics data, and shape customer databases full of sensitive, personally identifiable information. As long as this data exists on the Internet – and much of it will due to the shift toward SaaS and cloud computing – it is part of the company’s digital footprint.
Data collection itself can be problematic as well. While it’s essential for targeted and fruitful marketing efforts, excess data is also a risk factor. The more you store, the more enticing a target it becomes, prompting attackers who otherwise wouldn’t take interest and try to execute a data breach.
Moreover, working with large volumes of data necessitates involving more team members and third-party tool accounts. This expands the attack surface again and introduces additional vulnerability points cybercriminals could exploit.
It makes your business prone to social engineering attacks
Social media engagement is fundamental to building brand awareness and trust. However, it also contributes to the growing digital footprints of the company and the team members who handle its social media presence.
Your social media activities can help fuel social engineering attacks. For example, highlighting completed projects or conferences executives participated in may reveal enough information about key company personnel to target them with sophisticated spear phishing or business email compromise attacks.
How to Reduce Your Marketing Team’s Digital Footprint?
The most effective way of managing your marketing team’s digital footprint is to approach it strategically. Doing so will not only reduce cyberattack risks but positively impact operational efficiency as well.
Protect collected data
Start by examining the volume and types of data your marketing team collects. Then, assess which data is crucial for your marketing initiatives or campaigns and properly dispose of the surplus. Concentrating on collecting only relevant data reduces the strain on your storage solutions and marketing tools while reducing the attack surface.
The data you do continue to collect should be encrypted at rest and in transit. This doesn’t reduce the likelihood of data breaches. However, encrypted data maintains its integrity and confidentiality even if stolen since it’s useless without a decryption key that only your marketing team members know.
Ensure network security
Digital marketers are responsible for accessing and working with company resources without jeopardizing them. This is particularly relevant to remote team members, who are especially vulnerable because they may try to access these resources through unsafe networks like public Wi-Fi. As it’s trivial to monitor such networks and extract valuable information like login credentials from unsuspecting users, protective measures for remote workers should be mandatory.
A VPN is the best solution here since it’s unobtrusive yet effective. VPNs create an encrypted tunnel around one’s entire connection, shielding it from eavesdropping. Since all traffic gets routed through the VPN’s servers, your team’s real IP addresses and identities remain hidden. Plus, being able to switch your reported geographical location can be invaluable for ad verification, website QA, and other marketing activities.
But before you commit to a specific VPN, you should pay attention to its speed. This is important because some of them may significantly slow down browsing the web, which could disrupt the workflow of your marketing team. Therefore, it is suggested that you choose the fastest VPN that ensures your connection stays speedy even when the VPN is running.
Encourage mindful social media use
On the company level, it’s better to focus your efforts on the social platforms your target audience prefers. Limiting your presence to such platforms might seem like a missed opportunity. However, it makes more sense to concentrate on a receptive audience and deal with fewer accounts and breach risks.
On a personal level, encourage team members to keep their own profiles private and be mindful of what they share. Often, workers who post a lot about their personal lives online are the primary cause of social engineering attacks targeting businesses. Without a doubt, the more potential hackers know about your marketing team members, the more specific and impressive their phishing or other frauds can get.
It is also a good idea to give your marketing team regular cybersecurity training to keep them on their toes and updated on new digital threats. This will ensure your team is well aware of the online threats and consequences of leaving too much of a digital footprint online. It will also help better understand how hackers can use their personal data to compromise sensitive customer data and marketing assets.
Stay protected while traveling
Remote marketing teams and business travelers must have access to secure connectivity to ensure the safety of your business’s sensitive data while traveling. To eliminate the security threats associated with compromised public networks like Wi-Fi, invest in eSIMs.
Compared to more conventional methods of connection, these digital SIM solutions offer reliable local connectivity around the world without the need for physical cards.
To find the best eSIM for your business needs, we recommend checking online reviews and testimonials from other businesses. Usually, these give a better understanding of what you can expect from a specific eSIM provider.
Conclusion
Every marketing endeavor helps contribute to your company’s digital footprint. In turn, it can profoundly impact brand reputation, customer trust, and susceptibility to various cyberattacks.
Being aware of the need to reduce and shape this footprint already puts you ahead of the game. Putting the tips we offer above into practice comes with long-term benefits, streamlining your digital presence, protecting sensitive data, and building up a more resilient brand at the forefront.
