If Data is King, How Secure is Your Castle?
What do British Airways, Morrisons and Uber all have in common?
These brands have all been victims of a cyber attack, resulting in a data breach.
In fact, according to the 2018 cyber security breaches survey, almost half UK businesses suffered a cyber attack or security breach last year, costing each of them thousands of pounds.
The most common breaches or attacks involved fraudulent emails, attempts by scammers to impersonate the organisation online, and viruses and malware. Data obtained can range from card details and home addresses, to bank details and mobile numbers, as Boris Johnson found out when the Tory conference app leaked the MP’s contact details.
In other cases files were lost, software or systems corrupted, and money, assets and intellectual property were stolen. While the damage is often fiscal and into the thousands of pounds, the greater concern can be the long-lasting reputation damage. If people lose faith in your brand and your ability to look after the personal information they've entrusted to you, are they going to spend with you, recommend you, or use your services?
At Dragonfly we handle massive amounts of data. Data is king as it allows us to create the most effective campaigns for our clients. We segment audiences, sourcing information on what kind of customers are the best fit for specific clients and their products. This allows us to give clients the biggest bang for their buck, always delivering the most effective results from direct mail as possible.
While the new GDPR laws go a long way to protecting both business and consumer, we are conscious that we must do as much as we can to ensure any personal data we come into contact with is safe and secure.
The UK government is keen that all businesses have cyber security safety precautions in place, thus creating the Cyber Essentials scheme which Dragonfly has recently completed. The scheme helps to guard against the most common cyber threats, reducing the possibility of a data breach by around 80%, according to National Cyber Security Centre.
How is your security? Have you taken steps to protect your business and its customers? According to a study by KPMG, 19% of consumers would completely stop shopping at a retailer after a breach, and 33% would take a break from shopping there for an extended period. That kind of reactive behaviour has the power to bring a brand to its knees. If giants like Adidas and Ticketmaster are being hit, then what’s to stop your business being next?
