• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Flabby brands face reputation threat on account of cybercrime

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 Analysts have warned flabby organisations against likely impact of cyber crimes on their reputation, as there are growing concerns of possible increase in internet fraud following increased adoption of social media as communication platform by many brands.

Flabby organisations are non-proactive organisation to market changes in getting their brands across to their target customers.

Following concerns that brands and customers in Nigeria will become targets of cyber crimes following the internet communication trend by organisations, especially banks, Celey Okogun, CEO, Novepotta Y & R, said “if there was internet fraud supposedly on particular brands, it will definitely devalue the brand because the credibility and believability of that particularly brand is watered down.”

Ultimately, according to him, consumers will query why the firm’s management did not take proactive measures, advising for more investment on the IT section in order to provide a safety net that prevents scammers from getting on to the network.

Kelechi Nwosu, CEO, TBWA Concepts, also warned that scam could damage brands image, “but this is only relative to how strong the brand is. If a brand has built goodwill, by what it says about itself and what people think about it, scams will be a blip on the brand but will not damage the brand. That is why brand building is important for every brand. Brands need to make themselves strong and have a bank of goodwill.”

According to him, if a brand has credibility and it is accused wrongly, is easier for that brand to come out of it than when the brand does not have any credibility.

Speaking at a BusinessDay conference recently, according to a report, Tope Aladenusi, head, Security, Privacy and Resiliency, Deloitte, warned that organisations who delve into social media business without necessary cyber security systems would have to deal with reputation loss, intellectual property leakage and identity theft via social engineering, which could have adverse impact on the long-term sustainability of the financial services industry.

He said in the media report that some banks in Nigeria had commenced social media banking, “and this will make their brand and customer prime targets of cyber criminals.”

Speaking at a cyber security breakfast session, Aladenusi told BusinessDay recently that the social media was evolving to become the de-facto method of information dissemination, warning that globally, businesses were grappling with the issue of cybercrime. “Two years ago, hackers orchestrated multiple breaches on Sony’s PlayStation Network, knocking it off line for 24 days and costing the firm an estimated $171 million. Recently, LivingSocial, the second-largest daily deal firm behind Groupon Inc was hit by a cyber attack that compromised the data of more than 50 million customers.

“In 2012, the internal website of the US Federal Reserve Bank was broken into by hackers who stole the details of about 4, 000 bank executives. Social media throws up complex security challenges for banks. Over the past two years, there has been a massive surge in the number of malware attacks on the website of many banks. One prominent malware attack urges customer to provide bank details, in order to enhance the security of online transactions as per regulatory guidelines for additional level of authentication,” he said.

The report further said that in fact, many Nigerian hackers previously based overseas were returning home, because “the ‘Cashless Project’ offers fresh opportunities for them to perpetuate electronic fraud.”

In 2012, cyber attacks on Nigerian government-owned websites increased by 60 percent, according to a report. “This has shown no one is immune to these attacks, it’s only a matter of time before they shift focus to other industries,” Aladenusi noted in the report.

 

DANIEL OBI

Media Business Editor