{"id":150852,"date":"2025-09-04T10:51:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T09:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=150852"},"modified":"2025-09-04T12:27:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:27:00","slug":"cyber-crisis-is-a-completely-different-animal-advice-on-planning-a-cyber-secure-comms-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/cyber-crisis-is-a-completely-different-animal-advice-on-planning-a-cyber-secure-comms-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cyber crisis is a completely different animal\u2019: Advice on planning a cyber secure comms strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018The thing to remember: it’s not a normal crisis\u2019 – that\u2019s Joanne Gill\u2019s advice for comms teams. And Joanne would know: her organisation Cyber Crisis Readiness & Response<\/a> is geared towards helping comms teams who are faced with cyber security crises.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And in today\u2019s climate, every comms team is at risk. Any organisation with an internet connection could be subject to a cyber attack, a data leak, or a deep fake of their c-suite in today\u2019s climate of increased danger. According to Panorama report \u2018Fighting Cyber Criminals\u2019, there were an estimated 19,000 ransomware attacks on UK businesses in 2024, and that number is only set to grow.<\/p>\n

\u2018You have to have a separate part of your crisis comms plan, a separate process, a separate mind map. Don’t fall back on your usual muscle memory, because it’s not going to work for you,\u2019 adds Joanne, who equips organisations across the UK with the confidence to withstand and recover from the dangers of a cyberattack.<\/p>\n

Read on for what to learn from recent crises that hit the headlines; practical steps for getting started on your plan; and where comms can get particularly complicated\u2026<\/p>\n

Lessons to learn from the 2025 summer of cyberattacks<\/h3>\n

\u2018All comms teams need to be prepared for something like this to happen to them, and other organisations in their sector. Identify stakeholders, have statements that are ready to go,\u2019 advises Joanne.<\/p>\n

\"Cyberattacks<\/p>\n

\u2018The key thing that’s different with a cyber crisis is, how do you actually distribute that? If all of your systems are down (for example, M&S had to revert to pen and paper), how do you distribute your statement to journalists?<\/p>\n

\u2018There’s that added complication of having a distribution list that is not attached to a system which might go down. Ask yourself – do I know how I’m going to contact people? Where am I keeping that information? If I’ve got a crisis communication plan, do I have a paper copy of that? Do the people who are involved in that have a paper copy of it? And how are we going to communicate and actually do our jobs, get approvals for things that we put out when our systems are all down?\u2019<\/p>\n

Cyber crisis versus crisis<\/h3>\n

\u2018The additional element with a cyber crisis is that you need to be a good corporate citizen. With a cyber crisis, you’re not the sole victim. Your suppliers are potentially victims – it\u2019s going to cost them money, one way or another.<\/p>\n

\u2018All the usual things that you would do in a crisis need to be considered – how do we shore up the reputation of the company? How do we reassure people? How do we say sorry? But you also need to also look at how to be a good corporate citizen, preventing further harm to all of the people who are in your business ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u2018That is about communicating with CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers), telling them what the solution is to this problem, and how they can prevent contagion to their own systems. You’ve got a whole load of communication that has to happen before anybody even thinks about what to say to the media.<\/p>\n

\u2018The media isn’t going to drive how a company recovers. That’s going to be how you deal with your stakeholders – the media is just a route to communicate with those stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u2018A cyber crisis is a different animal to other crises.\u2019<\/p>\n