Ashley Madison Hack: Many in Sensitive Positions Open to Extortion

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, data breach, reputation management Leave a Comment

Fallout from this case is evidence of dangers from others As predicted, outed Ashley Madison users are being targeted for extortion. Although the reported cases thus far have been of a widespread spam-based attack, it would take very little digging for someone interested in a more personal attack to find …

Another Scary Wireless Car Hack

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, cyber security, cyber threats, information security Leave a Comment

More evidence connectivity is outpacing security Hot on the wheels (sorry, couldn’t resist!) of the uConnect hack comes another concern-causing car finding. This time, researchers at the University of California San Diego announced their discovery of a method that allows them to to hack thousands of different vehicles from a …

Cardinals Caught in a Pickle after Alleged Astros Hack

Erik Bernstein crisis management, cyber security, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Cyber crime history in the making Yesterday, the NY Times broke the story of the ongoing investigation by the F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors into the possible hacking of a Houston Astros internal network by St. Louis Cardinals staff. This hack, if proven, marks the first-ever cyber attack by a …

Army.mil Hack – a Reminder of the Need to Prepare

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Chances of being the victim of a cyber attack continue to rise While the military has had its share of web issues, it’s still safe to say that its official websites are more secure than your average page. Although there’s no way to keep 100% of hackers out of any …

Reputation and the Financial Sector

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, information security, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

Identifying the biggest threat to financial firms’ reputations Reputation is your most valuable asset, and today there are more threats to reputation than ever before. One of the fastest-growing and most impactful issues is information security, and the results of the 2015 Makovsky Wall Street Reputation Study show why. According …

Cyber Threats 101

Erik Bernstein computer security, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, cyber security, cyber threats, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

The time to prepare for a cyber attack is before it happens, not while you’re picking up the pieces A recent poll from the cybersecurity experts at CyberEdge returned some startling stats. A full 71% of respondents’ networks were breached in 2014, 59% saw a rise in mobile device threats, …

Hacking Wi-Fi Networks is Literally Child’s Play

Jonathan Bernstein computer security, crisis avoidance, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

It doesn’t take a hardened criminal to steal your data Public wi-fi networks are everywhere, from coffee shops to entire metro areas. They’re also astoundingly easy to hack. In an eye-opening experiment out of the UK, one security researcher turned a 7-year-old loose on a hotspot with nothing but a …

Guest Post: Cybersecurity Takes Centre Stage as a Crisis Risk

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, hackers, hacking, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

[Editor’s note: The below article, originally published in the Managing Outcomes newsletter, is an excellent look at the hot topic of cybersecurity from our colleague and frequent contributor Tony Jaques.] 2014 was a landmark year for cybersecurity, which saw a real change in reputational risk for corporations and other organisations.  …

Crisis Management Risk: Your Apps Have Been Hacked

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, cyber security, cyber threats, Cyberheist, cybersecurity, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein 1 Comment

With convenience comes danger Smartphones have gone far past being a fancy means of communication. They are our bank tellers, our maps, our offices-away-from-the office, and so much more, and all of this increased functionality is made possible by the use of apps. Pretty awesome, right? Not so fast…our colleague …

Software As a Cybersecurity Risk

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Are the programs you use to work leaving you vulnerable to attack? Publicly held companies are being ranked, both by stakeholders and the SEC, on their ability to prevent and withstand cyber attacks. Although most have put some form of security measures in place, the experts at Veracode say software …

Crisis Management Risk – Web Browser Flaws

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, internet crisis management, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

The prevalence and constant use of web browsers makes then an ideal point of entry for malicious hackers In case the many recent posts to this blog covering cyber crimes haven’t made it clear, at this point it’s not a question of whether you’ll be attacked, but when. A new …

Military Crisis Management for Cyber Threats

Jonathan Bernstein crisis avoidance, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

U.S. Cyber Command a solid model for businesses to follow The hacks and breaches of the past several years have made clear to us that cyber crime is here to stay, and that plans to prevent and mitigate the damage from these attacks is an absolute must for crisis management. …

IBM Study, Cyber Attacks, and Crisis Management

Jonathan Bernstein computer security, crisis avoidance strategy, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein 1 Comment

More data from IBM researchers on the current state of system security The past several years have seen a near-constant stream of data breaches, hacks, and other cyber-intrusions that have left individuals and organizations in some seriously sticky spots. While awareness, preparation, and responsiveness has improved significantly over those years, …

Cyber Threat – Social Login Attacks

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, Erik Bernstein, internet crisis management, Jonathan Bernstein, social media 2 Comments

Staying aware of threats is part of any good crisis management plan Social logins, where you use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or other social media accounts to log into apps and platforms around the web, have quickly become a norm. After all, with the mile-long list of passwords and key …

Data Breach Crisis Management for Kmart

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communication, crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, cyber security, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, hackers, hacking, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

You didn’t really think we’d get through a full week without a data breach story, did you? Yesterday saw Sears Holdings Corp. announce a data breach at its Kmart stores with the statement below, posted to the Kmart website: Did you spot the element that was missing from this message? …