With all the recent data breaches involving major companies and retailers that were hacked and customers' sensitive data being compromised, it is important to know the security risks of using social media to promote your business or enterprise. With the following seven points, you can make better decisions to protect your business surrounding the promotional use of social media.
1) Draft Company Policies
Every business considering the use of social media for branding and promotional needs to have a set of internal guidelines and company rules regarding the utilization of the social media sites.
2) Employee Disclosure of Passwords and Data
Be aware that one of the biggest risks to any business's use of social media is the compromising of sensitive data and passwords from the employees. A multi-tiered authentication process along with a recording app that monitors and records all posts and updates by the employee should be implemented as a necessary precaution. Also, have employees sign non-disclosure contracts for extra legal safeguards.
3) Control Social Media Access
Most companies have policies in place that regulate the use of social media while working. For social media pages that are for business promotion, it is imperative to limit the number of employees who have access to the sites. The fewer employees with access to the social media sites controls, the better.
4) IT Manager
As stated before, a great risk is the mismanagement and employee access with business use of social media for promotion. It is best to have one dedicated IT staffer to have the control of all the social media sites. The IT manager can then regulate who gains access and for what purpose.
5) Updating and Maintaining Security Protocols and Procedures
Hackers are devious and smart. As one new cyber threat is discovered and patches issued to protect systems, several more unauthorized violations can be executed. It is imperative, therefore, that the IT manager has a system in place that checks for new malware threats on a daily or weekly basis and has a backup plan in place for any necessary data recovery needs. The IT manager also needs to understand how to use any new security apps and software for social media protection.
6) Study the Social Media Sites Default Settings and then Customize
All too often, social media sites for business get launched with almost all of the attention going to the sites aesthetics, content and branding. It is important to understand, after studying, the social media websites default security settings. If they do not meet your needs for security, have the settings custom set by your IT manager. Many times the default positions are not as secure as most businesses would want, allowing for unwanted cookies and other monitoring of the business social media sites. Learn what the best security settings are and have the IT manager implement them to keep the data safe.
7) Password Access
Many security breaches come because of weak and poorly thought out passwords or codes. Use automated password generators to come up with NSA level password encryption and have them changed at least once a month, across the entire system. Changing the passwords and pass phrases each month helps to prevent phishing attacks and the misuse of the social media websites. The IT manager should be in charge of this procedure, and the passwords should never be disclosed to any other employees. Let the IT manager handle setting up the employees' computers so they can access the websites in controlled ways, without having to enter a password. Again, the IT manager needs to monitor and oversee this procedure.
Keeping a business protected is more important now than ever. With recent hacks coming to light such as the SONY and Anthem Blue Shield attacks that compromised hundreds of thousands of customer personal information, it makes sense to protect your business when it begins to use social media for branding and promotional campaigns so that you business and customers don't fall victim to similar crimes.