01. Control every redirect
Every QR scan is effectively a blind click, so treat the destination with the same care you would a login page or payment flow. Always send scans to HTTPS URLs that you control, ideally on your primary domain or a well-governed subdomain. This keeps certificates, cookies, and security headers under your direct oversight rather than a third-party service.
Avoid public link shorteners unless they support custom domains, strict security headers, and clear data-processing terms. While they’re convenient, they also introduce an extra layer of trust that your users haven’t explicitly agreed to. A lightweight redirect service that you host yourself strikes a better balance: it lets you rotate target URLs without reprinting assets, while keeping observability and governance in-house.
For broader guidance on protecting users from malicious links, phishing, and other online attacks, the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) publishes practical advice that you can align your QR journeys and web security posture with.
As part of your rollout, document which redirect patterns are allowed (e.g., only HTTPS, only specific domains) and add automated checks to ensure that new QR destinations meet those rules before they go live. This prevents “quick fixes” from quietly eroding your security posture over time.
02. Communicate authenticity
People are increasingly wary of scanning random codes in the wild, and for good reason. Make it obvious that your QR codes are legitimate by pairing them with clear ownership cues. A simple caption such as “secured by yourbrand.com” beneath each code goes a long way towards signalling that the destination is under your control.
In public or high-traffic spaces, take things a step further. Use tamper-evident stickers, embossing, or branded frames around the code so it’s harder for attackers to place a malicious QR overlay on top of your signage. Train staff to do quick visual checks for suspicious stickers or replacements during regular walk-throughs, especially on kiosks, check-in desks, and unattended displays.
Your comms team can reinforce this by educating customers on what an authentic QR from your organisation looks like: colours, logo, framing, and typical placement. The more familiar the pattern, the easier it is for people to spot something that feels “off.”
03. Guard the payload
The content behind a QR code can range from a simple URL to configuration data, login tokens, or onboarding flows. Treat anything encoded in the QR as potentially sensitive, especially when it’s used for access, provisioning, or identity-related flows.
- Validate every submission. Any form or endpoint triggered from a QR journey should run through the same input validation, rate limiting, and abuse detection you apply elsewhere. Don’t assume that “it’s just a QR campaign” makes it low risk.
- Minimise embedded data. Strip personally identifiable information (PII) before encoding a QR wherever possible. Instead of embedding a full payload, link to a secure endpoint that can look up user-specific data server-side after authentication.
- Use one-time or time-bound codes for sensitive flows. For device provisioning, access passes, or internal tools, favour one-time-use QR codes that expire after the first scan or within a short time window. This reduces the damage if a code is photographed, shared, or left on a whiteboard.
Capture these rules in your security and design guidelines so that marketing, product, and IT teams are aligned on what is and isn’t acceptable to encode.
04. Monitor and respond
Once QR campaigns are live, treat scan activity as a first-class signal in your monitoring stack. Log scans with campaign identifiers, rough location or venue tags (avoiding unnecessary PII), and timestamps so you can spot anomalies over time. Unusual spikes, long periods of inactivity, or scans from unexpected regions can all be early indicators that something has been misconfigured or compromised.
Work with your security team to define alert thresholds—for example, a sudden surge in scans from outside your target geography, or activity on a campaign that was supposed to be retired. When those thresholds are breached, someone should be notified with enough context to investigate quickly and, if needed, pause or redirect the affected code.
Finally, publish a short vulnerability disclosure note or security contact near high-risk placements (such as public kiosks or long-lived signage). Giving researchers and customers a clear way to report suspicious QR behaviour reduces the time between detection and fix, and reinforces that you take the security of your QR journeys seriously.
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