Crisis strategies for cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns

As we enter Q2, it’s clear that 2024 is already something of a cybersecurity stress test. While the healthcare industry was hit with its larger cyberattack to date this past February, and AT&T confirmed over the weekend that data from 73 million current and former customers leaked on the dark web, we are reminded that such incidents don’t just affect corporate reputation—but the lives of internal and external stakeholders, too.

During Ragan’s Public Affairs and Speechwriting Conference this past February, Alethea CEO and Founder Lisa Kaplan unpacked how the crisis playbook can be equipped to address cybersecurity threats and disinformation attacks like.

Here’s what we learned.

Kaplan began by emphasizing that all tactics to mitigate attacks , be they cyberattacks or disinformation campaigns, must begin with a baseline understanding of the business risk that a threat actually poses. “So being able to understand this as, ‘Who’s targeting me, what is the potential risk to my business and how do I get in front of this?’ is the framework that we recommend people adopt,” she said.