The Brand Hacking Brief (An Incomplete Aggregate)
PR Daily predicted that in 2016, "Who you can trust will become a branding issue, not a cyber security issue,” |Borenstein, G. (2015, December 15)|. Most people know when a brand promises something, it needs to deliver. However, perpetrators, like hacktivists seek to change the perception of your brand for social or political reasons.
Hacktivism comes in many guises from memes to more damaging Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, and other cyber hacking or hijacks to pervert brand communications. Hacktivists are computer hackers whose sole aim is to promote their social or political cause. Allegedly, unlike cyber criminals, hacktivists are not in it for the money.
The renowned hacktivist group, Anonymous has taken credit for innumerable hacks around the world. It has infiltrated companies and governments whose ideologies go against theirs since they first appeared on the world stage wearing Guy Fawkes masks during their 2008 Project Chanology campaign.
Hacks can be disruptive and damaging; however, some companies benefit. Anonymous took credit for the February 2013 fantastical tweets on the Burger King Twitter account that made it look like McDonald's bought Burger King. That day an online post from Computer Worldsaid Burger King gained 60,000 new followers as a result, |Kirk, J. (2013, February 18)|. The day after Burger King was hacked, Jeep gets a similar invasion with tales that Cadillac bought them.
A few months later, Forbes offered advice on how brands can avoid the embarrassment Burger King endured from its breach, (2013, March 6). Guest contributor, Steve Garrity, co-founder and CTO of Hearsay Social said, "Research firm Altimeter Group recently found that 76% of crises could have been minimized with better preparation by the affected company." Trend Micro contributor, Vic Hargrave explains there are white hat hackers, who are company-employed computer securities experts, and then there are the black hat and gray hat hackers like Anonymous, (2012, June 17).
Most hacked entities can’t boast the Burger King and Jeep happy ending. If you Google the top hacks of 2015, the list is long. While cyber hacks may only be embarrassing and disruptive, cyber crimes are costly. On February 15, 2015, CNNMoney posted the internet security firm, Kaspersky Lab report about a $1 billion bank heist. While many of us read the intriguing Stieg Larsson Millennium trilogy along with the recent David Lagercrantz continuation, Girl In The Spider's Web without pausing for water, it’s important to understand that regardless of what shade black hat perpetrators are wearing the activity has real consequences.
A “We’re sorry you got hacked,” letter like the one from Target posted in MarketPlacedoesn’t stop the bleeding, |Tobin, A. (2014, January 16)|. While a MarketWatch article celebrated, “Two months after damaging data breach, Target stock has its best day in 5 years,” |Cheng, A. (2014, February 26)|, it added Target said it incurred, "[...] $61 million in breach-related costs in the fourth quarter, or net $17 million after $44 million in expected insurance payments." Despite the $10 Million payout to victims, |Tobin, A. (2014, January 16)|, the debacle sounded a loud alarm to consumers.
A Gallup Poll found that 69% of the people in the U.S. are worried about having the credit card information you have used at stores stolen by computer hackers, |Riffkin, R. (2014, October 27)|. Unfortunately, it also said that out of the one in four Americans who claimed to have been hacked very few ever reported it to the police.
Last year, an article on India’s BW Businessworldcalled Hacktivism a “Weapon of Brand Destruction" and said most brands are “strategically unprepared to cope,” |Sood, G. (2015, November 17)|. The article reiterates the importance of understanding, “What goes online stays online." While Reputation Management is becoming part of branding initiatives along with an ever-growing set of metrics to measure sentiment and sales, there’s no cookie-cutter solution to a negative post.
Raimund Genes, CTO, Trend Micro predicts, “Governments and enterprises will begin to see the benefit of cyber security foresight, with changes in legislation and the increasing addition of cyber security officers within enterprises. In addition, as users become more aware of online threats, attackers will react by developing sophisticated, personalized schemes to target individuals and corporations alike,” |Moore, T. (2015, October 27)|.
Along with a list of Trend MicroThreat Predictions for 2016 is an increase in online extortion. “Hackers consistently evolve to adapt to their surroundings, just as online ads are declining, we see ransomware is increasing,” said Tom Kellermann, Chief Cybersecurity Officer, Trend Micro. “Despite the growth in security investments and legislation, these changes will inevitably bring new, more sophisticated attack vectors.”
Not everyone can justify (much less afford) adding a white-hat-hacker computer securities expert. Law Technology Todayencourages, at least, having a Breach Response Plan. For larger companies they recommend more intense measures including emergency preparedness activities much like a fire drill. Let's call them Cyber Drills. LTT contributor, Daniel L. Farris explains, "According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are approximately 1.4 million fires a year in the United States. According to PwC, there were 42.8 million cyber incidents in 2014. Despite the fact that a cyber incident is 3000% more likely, many U.S. companies do not have a written cyber breach response plan, and fewer still actually practice them," (2015, December 14).
Cyber threats are real. Obama's recent budget proposal, which included a request to increase federal cybersecurity spending to $19 billion as part of his "National Cybersecurity Action Plan" can attest to that. The bottom line is, if your brand gets hacked, your relationship with your consumers is what is at stake. There isn’t a negative message too small to address these days. It will demand a fast, authentic response that is consciously conveyed and consistent with your brand.
©2017 Rhonda Geraci Creative Consulting, LLC