Marketers, we have a problem

And that problem is security.
Much of what marketing does is build profiles of customers by collecting huge amounts of data on every customer. That data collection is facilitated by compliant customers that provide all sorts of personal data just because they’re politely asked by a retail clerk.
There will always be people who comply with data requests, but I expect more customers to be wary of sharing information at the register.
I’m not the only one, a recent NY Times blog post from one of their security researchers: Stop asking me for my email address. She discusses how much information companies ask for and how complacently consumers hand it over without asking about security.

The point is that no company is secure. None of them. Not when they are up against an increasingly sophisticated, elusive enemy. But the problem is not just retailers, or technology companies or hackers, it’s us.
We regularly hand over data simply because we’re politely asked. We don’t read privacy policies, or ask companies whether our email addresses and passwords will be “salted” or “hashed,” encrypted with long or short keys, or whether those keys will be stored on separate systems from the ones they can unscramble.

The underlying problem is that marketers and the companies they work for, are not taking security seriously enough. The collection of reams and reams of personal data, from PII through to email opens and clicks, makes this data a prime target for criminals.
It concerns me that security breaches are getting bigger and taking more data and affecting companies with large customer bases.
Security has to become a bigger priority for companies.

Related Posts

Target acquires email addresses, exposing more customers to data breaches

As most folks now know hackers broke into Target systems last December and stole financial and other data from 110 million customers. Target has been responding to this breach reasonably well. They’ve been notifying customers that were affected and they’re providing credit monitoring for affected individuals. They seem to be totally on top of protecting their customer’s data and privacy.
Mostly.
They seem to be purchasing or otherwise acquiring email addresses from at least one major retailer in order to send out notifications about the breach to customers that never gave them email addresses. Yes, even those of us who chose not to give Target email addresses are receiving email from them.
I understand Target’s drive to contact affected users. I even appreciate that. What I don’t appreciate is that Target appears to be compromising my security in order to notify me my security was compromised. The data of mine that was compromised at Target would be credit card and possibly address information. My email address was not part of the compromise. So what does Target do? They go and acquire my email address from a third party.
Their solution to the compromise is collecting more data that is vulnerable to compromise from unrelated third parties? I’m not sure this is the most consumer friendly thing Target could do. In my case, Target sent mail to an address I’ve only given to Amazon. That means I now need to worry about my Amazon account security, on top of everything else.
Ironically, the email sent by Target tells me that I can click a link and get free credit monitoring. Then the email goes on to tell me the following:

  • Never share information with anyone over the phone, email or text, even if they claim to be someone you know or do business with. Instead, ask for a call-back number.
  • Delete texts immediately from numbers or names you don’t recognize.
  • Be wary of emails that ask for money or send you to suspicious websites. Don’t click links within emails you don’t recognize.

Don’t click links within emails I don’t recognize? You mean like the one you just sent me? With a link to a credit monitoring website?
I appreciate the notice. I don’t appreciate is that Target went out of their way to collect more information about me than I actually gave them. I am now worried about Amazon’s security as well. How did Target get an address only provided to Amazon? I don’t appreciate that my efforts to keep my information secure (not providing email address to Target) was undermined by Target themselves.
The full text of the email, with the relevant headers (munged slightly for privacy) is under the cut, if anyone is interested.

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People are your weakest link

Social engineering is a long standing way to compromise security. Chunkhost reports today that they discovered accounts being compromised through social engineering of Sendgrid support. While the compromise did not work it was a close call. The only thing that saved the targeted customers was their implementation of 2 factor authentication.
We know many of our customers individually and personally, and are still careful about changing contact addresses and passwords. With larger customer bases, it’s vital that every person in the change follow security processes.

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Target breach started from email

According to Brian Krebs the compromise of Target’s POS system probably originated with a phishing attack against one of Target’s vendors. This attack compromised credentials of the HVAC vendor and possibly allowed the hackers entrance into Target’s systems.
Interestingly, Brian mentions Ariba, a company I’ve been forced to deal by a large customer of ours. I’m not sure if there really is an attack vector where a vendor can get access through Ariba to the internal systems of the customers. However, my experience with Ariba has been frustrating and problematic, so I’ll be happy to believe their security is as broken as their email.
Email is a great way to interact with people and companies. It’s great for growing communities and businesses. But it is also a way for attackers to get access to your computer and the websites you interact with. Protect yourself, and your company, by running security software. And, please, don’t open attachments or click on links in emails and provide usernames and passwords.

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