Tracking data breaches and hacks to provide high quality leads
In an increasingly data-driven world, most organisations choose to conduct almost all their business online. And although doing so is undoubtedly more effective, it does put businesses at risk of cybersecurity breaches.
A top cybersecurity company approached us when it realised that companies who had just suffered a major data breach were a lot more likely to engage with their services. So ,how did we help?
We built them bespoke software that scraped dozens of news sources to alert their sales team whenever a breach occurred. This allowed salespeople to be first on the scene and appear when they needed it most, which in turn provided a much better experience for their clients.
20+
News sources
Scraped several times per day for up to date information
2,000+
Prospects
Number of prospects our tool tracked
100+
Breach alerts
Alerts sent on a monthly basis
How BreachHunter Worked With Acuto
Not only is cybersecurity notoriously expensive – sales cycles also tend to be very long, the resources of sales executives are often limited, and not all leads actually lead somewhere.
We established that, in the aftermath of a security breach, companies are a lot more likely to invest in cybersecurity. Most insurance will cover the cost anyway, and they’ll be actively looking for ways to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
When this happens, being the first salesperson on the scene gives you a significant advantage, as you can offer your services to overcome the early – and most stressful – stages of the breach.
However, knowing what accounts in your patch have been breached is not always straightforward, as team members might be too stressed out to reach out to you directly.
Let’s look at how Acuto stepped in to tackle this issue!
Firstly, we started by building a bespoke software tool that scraped dozens of news sources looking for information on data breaches, hacks, and cybersecurity compromises. Whenever anything relevant was found, it was automatically added to our database.
Users – or in this case, salespeople – could then log in and add any keywords that matched the names of the prospects they were interested in (or upload a list as a csv). As a result, they were notified with an alert whenever any of those names appeared in our database.
These alerts provided more information and details regarding the breach, allowing the salesperson to approach their contact with more knowledge than the competition. In addition, users could also log in and view a comprehensive list of all past breaches in one place to ensure they didn’t miss anything.
Account Executive at CyberArk
How We Did It
Overall, our solution allowed for salespeople to be first on the scene with the most relevant information regarding how to tackle the breach – which in turn provided a more tailored experience for their clients. But how exactly did we do this, you ask? Read on to find out.
- We hosted on the infinitely scalable Google Cloud to allow for future expansion as required
- We built software with a modular structure based on microservices – so that new components can be easily added on and existing ones modified
- We used a CI/CD pipeline, which means we can deploy code to production on a regular basis
- We automated testing in various environments, which means that we can be extremely quick when deploying new changes without the risk of breakage/glitches.
- We started by building multiple scrapers in order to obtain and store any news concerning data breaches into a centralised database. We then proceeded to build a simple node.js on top of this, so that users could login and upload their own accounts. A separate part of the app then searched for breaches and sent out relevant email alerts.
The Results
The benefits of the bespoke software application we built are countless – but let’s go through some of the key transformations our client saw:
- Better leads: as we’ve discussed, it can be hard to know what accounts in your patch have been breached, as team members are often too stressed in the aftermath to reach out directly. We solved this by allowing salespeople to login to our bespoke software tool and add in any keywords that matched the names of the prospects they were interested in. They were then notified whenever any of those names appeared in our database.
- More sales: our solution allowed for salespeople to be first on the scene with the most relevant information regarding how to tackle the breach – which in turn provided a more tailored experience for their clients, and more importantly – a significant increase in sales.
- Clients pleasantly surprised by timing: there are few things more stressful than a breach of security. When a business is struggling to cope with the repercussions is when their services and help are needed most, and their clients would be the first to confirm this!
- Enabled conversations at just the right time: companies who have just suffered a major data breach were a lot more likely to engage with their services – our bespoke software allowed them to strike while the iron was still hot, enabling conversations at just the right time.
Ready to automate your agency?
Are you struggling to identify high quality leads that actually result in an increase in sales?
Acuto can help you do this with a bespoke software solution that helps your marketing teams be more effective and enable solutions that would be impossible for humans to carry out themselves.
