Communications is a crucial aspect of crisis management after a cyber attack

A carefully devised communication strategy is crucial to damage control following a cyber attack, according to Partner and Head of Brunswick South Africa’s Johannesburg office Marin Bidoli. Failure to manage communications in such a scenario only compounds the damage, she said at the ITWeb Security Summit 2019. The digitalisation of business practices across the globe has brought growth and efficiency on the one hand, while generating significant new vulnerabilities on the other. Business that handle personal and financial data have come under a barrage of cyber attacks in recent years. The Equifax scandal in the US is the prime example of such an attack, wherein sensitive data relating to nearly 150 million people across the world was compromised after the credit rating company’s systems were hacked into. Equifax suffered major loses as a result, as do most firms that undergo such an attack. According to Bidoli, these loses can be cut by a substantial degree if the communications in the immediate aftermath of such an attack are handled proficiently. Bidoli works at Brunswick South Africa in Johannesburg, a firm that has been supporting South African clients with public relations for more than two decades.