The Impact of Cyberattacks on Brand Reputation: How to Minimise Damage
Cyberattacks can be damaging for a brand, as they can cause your customers to lose trust in you to protect their data. It’s integral that you do everything you can to protect your business to start with; however, even the most bulletproof digital security systems can be hacked. So, if this has happened to you and you want to know what to do to minimise the damage done, then we’re here to help.
Ensure You Do Everything You Can To Prevent It From Happening Again
The first step to minimising the damage to your brand after a cyber attack is to do everything you can to prevent this from happening again. Work with cyber security experts to ensure that your business and data are fully protected, that you have a 24-hour cyber security system with an emergency team available to quickly react to any issues, and that you provide sufficient staff training to also protect the business in the areas they’re responsible for.
You need to be prepared to discuss what has happened, what you’re doing to handle it and how the information will be better protected.
Write Public Statements
You should also make public statements and potentially social media announcements. The worst thing you can do when a cyberattack occurs is to try to cover it up and not be honest. It’s natural to feel confused and overwhelmed when this happens; however, it’s important for you to put out a statement that is open about what happened, shows you are taking it seriously and also shows what you have done to rectify the issue. With the public statements you’re putting out, you should focus on your customers first and foremost, then on reaching out to media outlets, depending on the size of your business.
You should be aware that there has been an incident resulting in a breach. Explain that forensic experts are involved in an investigation and that everything is being done to identify where the issue occurred and the impact it has had. You can also highlight that you are working with industry-leading cybersecurity experts to strengthen the systems further. Being clear about the mitigation strategies is important.
Working with a PR company in order to protect your brand and also with a branding agency Manchester or London will help you navigate this properly and change perceptions of your brand.
Have Someone Assigned To Contacting Clients and Reducing Their Frustrations
Once your clients or customers know what has occurred, you need to have someone on hand who can be available to speak to them about their frustrations and help them regain trust. If clients or customers are trying to get in touch with you for answers and they can’t, it can really cause them to withdraw and completely lose their trust in your brand. You also should be prepared to give actual actionable changes that are being made, rather than just saying that you understand and are sorry for what has happened. When you have a clear plan of action to tell your clients and customers, it will help them maintain some trust in you.
Keep Your Own Team In The Loop
It’s also important for you to keep your own team in the loop throughout this. You should let your team know straight away when there has been a cyber attack, as well as any information about what they need to do in order to minimise what has happened. This should be done very clearly. You should also be honest about the extent of the attack and the action plan in order to resolve it. Provide frequent updates and reassure them, as well as ensure that there is open communication available for them to ask questions and understand what’s going on.
While the primary focus may be on the client and customer, it’s so important that your employees have faith in who you are as a brand. If they see the business as a disorganised company that doesn’t invest in data protection, it could cause them to look elsewhere. So, be upfront and honest, yet reassure your team, to help maintain the strong team that you’ll need after a cyber security attack or data breach.
Final Thoughts
Remaining calm and collected through a cyberattack is so important. Work logically and ensure you invest in working with a reliable business cyber security company that can help you recover data as well as do everything possible to prevent attacks in the future. Maintaining your brand is key in difficult times like this, so we would recommend working with experienced branding agencies in order to help you navigate your reputation both internally within your business as well as externally from a client and customer perspective.
