New training and advisory practice to help organisations prepare for and respond effectively during a cyber incident.

29 November 2022, SINGAPORE & MELBOURNE — Cyber security breaches can leave companies in the dark, with no computers, email, telephones, or access to the internet, and facing the risk of sensitive or confidential data being published online.

At times like this, organisations can suffer severe legal, financial, or reputational harm if their leaders say the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person, and particularly if they are perceived to mislead the public in any way.

The number of such incidents continues to rise, with smaller companies becoming more vulnerable. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) reported that a cyber-attack took place on average every seven minutes in Australia in 2022. And, in Singapore, the Cyber Security Agency reported that the number of ransomware attacks increased by 54 per cent between 2020 to 2021.

“Cybercrime is a question of when, not if,” said Illka Gobius, CEO of Pinpoint PR. “It is vital that organisations know how to communicate with impacted staff and customers in a cyber attack.”

Offered for the first time in the Asia Pacific, a new cyber crisis communications practice has been established to empower organisations to communicate well during a cyber incident. Cyber Incident Communications will equip organisations to plan their communications response during a cyber security incident, arm them with the protocols and materials necessary to use during the incident, and offer cyber crisis communications counsel to see them through the incident.

“Our planning, training and strategic counsel is focused on managing the unique challenges of cyber incident response,” said Brian Shrowder, director at Mediacraft Communications. “We enable organisations to effectively manage stakeholder and public concerns while managing media enquiries and meeting their regulatory obligations.”

Services include:

  • Workshops
    • Cyber Incident Communications Training Workshop
       A workshop to learn and practise what to say, how, and when, to communicate with stakeholders and the public, along with the roles and responsibilities of communicators during a cyber incident.
    • Stakeholder Communications Workshop
      For internal communications, a half-day forensic workshop to identify your stakeholders, what sensitive information you hold on those stakeholders, and craft a communications strategy to talk to those stakeholders during a cyber incident.
  • Strategy & Policy Documents
    • Cyber Incident Response Communications Strategy and Policy Handbook
      A written document that details protocol to guide the communications effort during a cyber incident, laying out the information necessary to guide how senior managers and communications staff should act when a cyber incident occurs.
    • Stakeholder Communications Strategy
      A communications strategy that details and compiles information about each of your stakeholder groups, determines how and when to communicate with them, in what manner, and by what method.
  • Cyber Crisis Counsel
    A team on call to support you in the event of a cyber incident crisis, to field or liaise regulator reports, media requests, and stakeholder inquiries. We are the calm voice of reason counselling you through the response.

 

ABOUT CYBER INCIDENT COMMUNICATIONS

Cyber Incident Communications is a practice run jointly by Mediacraft Communications Pty Ltd, a media training, issues and crisis management consultancy in Australia, together with Pinpoint PR Pte. Ltd., a technology public relations agency based in Singapore for Southeast Asia. Both parties have signed a Memorandum of Agreement to co-develop materials and deliver workshops.

THE TRAINERS

The crisis communications consultancy is led by Brian Shrowder from Mediacraft Communications, an industry veteran who draws on broadcast experience and a long career in public relations consultancy that includes all aspects of communications training.

The stakeholder communications consultancy is led by Illka Gobius, the founder of Pinpoint PR. Illka established the consultancy, which has won a multitude of industry awards for their outstanding consultancy in stakeholder communications, international reputation management, use of advocates, strategic communications, and consultancy management.

To learn more about these services, email contact@pinpointpr.sg or visit http://www.cyberincidentcommunications.com/.

NOTES TO EDITORS

  1. Organisations in the Asia Pacific region are increasingly exposed to more substantial cyber-attacks, and in particular, high-profile breaches are occurring more frequently in Australia and Singapore.
  2. During the 2020-21 financial year, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) reported that they received over 67,500 cybercrime reports, up nearly 13 per cent on the previous year, which means that there was a report of a cyber-attack every seven minutes.
  3. In Singapore, there were 22,219 cybercrime cases in 2021, a 38 per cent increase from 16,117 cases in 2020, according to the CSA.
  4. CSA has observed that ransomware groups targeting SMEs in Singapore utilised the Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, which made it easier for amateur hackers to use existing infrastructure – created by developers – to distribute ransomware payloads.
  5. For more information, please contact illka@pinpointpr.global.

 

MEDIA CONTACT

Illka Gobius

+65 9769 8370

illka@pinpointpr.global