Even though reputational damage is often cited as one of the most significant concerns of a cyber-breach, 74% of organisations do not include their communications team when planning for a breach, according to industry research. Regardless of your organisation’s size, your reputation, which is intrinsically linked to your brand, is a precious commodity that is just as important to protect as your goods and services.

Research shows that data breaches can result in some of the sharpest downturns in an organisation’s sentiment, can produce negativity that lingers long after an accident, and that each successive breach erodes organisations’ reputations more and more.

Thankfully, safeguarding your reputation against cyber attacks is easy. To ensure that your organisation’s reputation can withstand the repercussions of a cyber attack, implement these best practices:

• Create a reputation policy. This should involve a risk assessment to identify any gaps that could cause damage to your reputation and create solutions in order to mitigate those risks. Include members of your communications team in the planning process.
• Develop a crisis management plan. This should include a detailed checklist of what steps need to be taken in order to address the cyber-attack, how your organisation will mitigate reputation damage, and how you will inform your clients, stakeholders and the public.
• Be transparent. When communicating with your clients, stakeholders and the public, you must be transparent in order to demonstrate that they can trust you despite this incident.
• Purchase insurance. It may be hard to find cover for your reputation, but you may be able to transfer aspects of your reputational risk to other policies, such as cyber and business interruption.

For further information regarding cyber risks & liabilities, please contact your local GS Group branch today.