USA – ILLINOIS Trends and Developments Contributed by: Jamie Singer and Meredith Griffanti, FTI Consulting, Inc.
ficient communications infrastructure to triage hundreds if not thousands of inquiries – a luxury that not all companies have the staff or resourc- es to support. External communications experts in this space can help to establish, implement and support this triage infrastructure through tried-and-true crisis management techniques. Without a centralised “command centre” that equips the company to be responsive, accurate and consistent – other voices will fill the void, and rumours and speculation about the incident can run rampant. Traditional communications channels may not be an option It is often the case that companies’ preferred communications modes are not available when they are actively responding to a cyber-attack – email, corporate websites and intranet sites are regularly disrupted by ransomware attacks or containment efforts. Organisations may need to quickly identify and employ a range of back- up or alternative communications vehicles that deliver urgent updates to key stakeholders about downtime procedures. Cybersecurity crisis com- munications professionals who are well-versed in off-network communications solutions can assist teams with identifying and implementing out-of-band solutions, such as text-based emer- gency notification systems and “dark” sites. Threat actors can be worthy PR adversaries At the end of the day, most cyber-attacks are financially motivated and focus on eliciting maxi- mum pain to an organisation in order to extort payment. As such, threat actors are continuing to become increasingly aggressive and sophisti- cated in their extortion tactics. In addition to the common tactics such as “naming and shaming” their victims by posting exfiltrated data on leak sites, threat actors are also reaching out directly to employees and executives, giving interviews
to the media, outing companies to regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commis- sion (SEC) and even mailing packages to execu- tives’ homes. These extortion tactics can lead to additional internal panic and external attention, including media stories and questions from cus- tomers and staff. As a result, companies need to be prepared with effective communications and messaging strategies to respond to these sce- narios accordingly. Cybersecurity communica- tions consultants know the various threat actor groups’ playbooks and can help organisations to peer around corners and properly plan for a likely escalation. Incident response communication is not for the faint of heart Incident response is a long game. Recovery, forensics investigations and data mining are not overnight processes – they often take weeks to months. What is more, in the immediate after- math of recovery from a cybersecurity incident, additional time will be needed to complete legal notification efforts and respond to potential, ensuing litigation. Organisations used to manag- ing crises that are mere moments in time are in for a wake-up call during a cybersecurity crisis. Cybersecurity crisis communications specialists are accustomed to the long game of incident response and can help corporate communica- tions teams predict key milestones and, impor- tantly, relieve the communications fatigue that inevitably accompanies incident response. Experience matters Companies who respond to cyber-attacks fre- quently rely upon cybersecurity legal and foren- sics experts who have gathered deep experi- ence working hundreds of incident response matters. The muscle memory these experts gain from managing incident after incident cannot be overstated. The same principle applies to cyber-
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