Cyberattacks and their impact on online brands image

Abstract

The development of cyber-economy is creating new threats for brands and their public relations, especially for companies from sectors of online services and IT. Outcomes of cyberattacks are the new types of PR challenges for companies that can negatively impact a brand’s image, reliance on products and services provided, and lead to general distrust towards whole branches of cyber-economy. Brands providing services related to online services or IT are especially vulnerable to the marketing consequences of cyberthreats. Online services are using personal data and financial assets of the users which may be intercepted, leaked out, stolen, misused, modified, replaced, and be used against the user’s will or interest. In this regard, brands must prepare defense strategies from cyberattacks together with plans for dealing with the negative outcomes of cyberattacks and their consequences for the brand. This paper will focus on the threats for brand image related to cybersecurity, potential impacts of cyberattacks on user’s perception of brand trust towards it, and how the companies may secure their customers and react to cyberattacks on them.