A respected panel of guest speakers came together to Bletchley Park to explore what business aspects are vulnerable in terms of both technology and people and asked the assembled audience how ready were they to rapidly adapt and respond to risks?
Nigel Stanley, Principal Consultant at Incoming Thought highlighted the types of threat to businesses from data theft, cyber stalking, to staff using business systems to access online pornography.
The audience also learned that smart phones were proving to be a new target, with Trojan software being planted on these devices to allow the interception of messages and data, with the aim of stealing intellectual property.
“Regular, objective risk assessments” were key in helping reduce these risks claimed Nigel Stanley as well as “the sharing of intelligence”.
The key was to “know your information and classify it for risk” added Andrew Sheldon forensic expert at Evidence Talks.
But what should organisations do when their IT systems have been compromised?
“Rely on a documented plan” claimed Andrew Sheldon – “The importance of following a process cannot be underestimated”. He continued “the temptation to get your systems up and running as soon as possible is understandable but the step of simply rebooting it may delete evidence of an attack.”
The importance of “preparing for the unknown” was echoed by Dr Paul Robertson, Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers – “There is never a good time to plan a response but the worst time is after it has already happened. Planning crises communications in these situations ‘on the fly’ affects your response”.
“The perception of how well an organisation reacts to a threat was crucial” claimed Dr Robertson, “the impact on shareholder value could not be underestimated. Understanding your stakeholders was key and ensuring “the right message from the right person to the right audience at the right time” required internal training.
“Cyber threats were coming of age and with the rise of social media stories can become global in an instant. The era of ‘no comment’ is over.”
Fredi Nonyelu Chair of Biztech was delighted with the debate and added “Only by understanding and preparing for these threats can we plan to minimise their impact. That is why I am delighted to extend an open invitation to a highly interactive joint Biztech and MKBRF workshop on the 7 April which will look at Business Continuity from the perspective of media strategies.”
“Experts who have worked for the BBC and ITN as well as national newspapers will be imparting facts, tools and techniques in this facilitated workshop to provide every delegate practical media handling experience firsthand.”
For further information on Biztech and to secure your place on the Crisis Communications – Business Continuity and the Media workshop visit www.biztech.org.uk.
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Editors Notes
Image (L-R) Anthony Cutress, Chair of MK Business Resilience Forum, Dr Paul Robertson, Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Andrew Sheldon, Principle Forensic Consultant at Evidence Talks, Fredi Nonyelu, Chair of Biztech, Nigel Stanley, Principal Consultants at Incoming Thought
For further information or to arrange an interview with Fredi Nonyelu or Anthony Cutress please contact:
Nimish Sawjani, My Marketing Delivered
Tel:01908 866 544
Mob:07701 096 059
Email:nimish@mymarketingdelivered.co.uk