It’s Cybersecurity Month, and while financial institutions around the country are working to strengthen their defenses, it’s important for credit unions not to neglect a critical component of a credit union’s security: members.
While a fundamental aspect of a credit union is the ability to keep its members’ information safe, members are a key part of that strategy and should not be excluded from your credit union’s cybersecurity plans.
So, let’s go through some must-dos for marketing to your members this month. Successfully marketing cybersecurity to your members hinges on three main components: awareness, trust, and engagement. By marketing these three elements, together, your credit union and your members can help prevent and ensure the safety of their finances.
Awareness
Your members are the first line of defense against attacks, and they need to understand the risks and be able to spot warning signs. According to a study by IBM, 95% of cybersecurity breaches result from human error. This also means that more than likely, 95% of cybersecurity incidents are preventable.
Your credit union should be highlighting the importance of security by making your members aware of threats through things like phishing, identity theft, or malware which could affect their credit union and finances. Email, blog posts, and social media are excellent channels to utilize in promoting awareness to your members.
Trust
Your credit union takes many steps to ensure your member’s finances are safe from harm and Cybersecurity Month is an excellent time to reinforce that you’re taking the proper precautions and enacting measures to keep them safe!
Do your members understand all the technology and services you employ to keep their money safe? Sharing information about your multi-factor authentication, fraud detection and monitoring services, and NCUA regulations and compliance are just a few examples that will help earn and build trust with your members.
Mobile banners, website landing page graphics, and social media posts are great ways to communicate these messages.
Engagement
Educate and encourage your members to be proactive in their financial security. What services do you offer that will allow them to do so? Promoting strong passwords and encouraging them to enable offerings such as suspected fraud alerts on their accounts and card lock options (when necessary) are a step in the right direction for your members to take an active role in protecting themselves and their credit union.
Don’t forget to remind your members to be watchful with how they engage with their credit union account outside of the credit union as well. Are they linking their checking account with third-party apps for budgeting tools, P2P services, or credit tracking? When was the last time they reviewed the services that have access to their information? Data breaches or other cybersecurity events at any of these vendors can lead to a member’s account becoming compromised.
Emails, SMS messages, and in-app notifications are great ways to signal to your members to get engaged in their own security and together you can protect the credit union and the member’s finances.
Educate to protect
Cybersecurity is essential for today’s members and credit unions. It is more important than ever to protect both personal information and finances, and by understanding the risks and taking measures to safeguard these items your credit union can not only make the member feel safer but also help ensure that they trust and believe your credit union has their financial security and interests in mind.
