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Just a Thought
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"Refusing to monitor social media for crisis warning signs is like removing the batteries from your smoke detectors."
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From the Editor
Last week, we covered the case of app developer Naoki Hiroshima and his stolen @N Twitter account. Long story short, Hiroshima had his highly sought-after account (for which he had been offered as much as $80,000) stolen by a clever hacker.
The hacker didn't use any particularly high-tech methods, but rather a series of simple social engineering tricks to induce employees at both GoDaddy and PayPal to release private information and allow him access to Hiroshima's accounts. He then used this leverage to force the designer to transfer his Twitter handle, or risk losing the data connected to several sites he hosts through GoDaddy's service.
Even with a massive response to Hiroshima's blog detailing the situation, email logs from the hacker, and a large group of supporters, it took over a month for the @N account to be restored to its rightful owner.
While it sounds like a happy ending, can you even begin to imagine the damage an industrious hacker could do to your brand with 30 days in control of an account that, in all appearances, belongs to your organization?
Purposely alienating stakeholders, sowing malware or viruses among contacts, and erasing your hard-won list of followers are just a few of the possibilities that come to this crisis manager's mind, and believe me, anyone who comes after you is going to have a nasty "to do" list clutched in their grubby little paw.
Protect your systems, secure your logins, but above all plan for the possibility that you will be hacked. Nobody likes to think it, but the reality is that your Twitter account could be next.
Thank you, and read on. |
Interested in repurposing BCM articles
or blog posts?
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Would you like to share a post with your audience, reprint one of BCM's how-to's for office use, or take students through a set of case studies?
We're happy to give permission for material to be repurposed in just about any way you'd like. Simply submit a request to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
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Blogs!
By Erik Bernstein
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Here are just a few of the latest posts:
Featuring an infographic full of lessons from airlines' first real test of social media crisis management ability, Prepare for Takeoff with these Social Media Crisis Management Tips is a great resource for any organization.
Online Crisis Management: Watching the Web is all about keeping tabs on your online reputation, an essential ingredient in any reputation management plan.
Another entry in our popular series, Crisis Management Quotables...on Showing the Right Thing takes a lesson from John D. Rockefeller himself in how to boost your public image.
Transparency is more than a buzzword. In fact, Social Media Crisis Management and the T-Word go hand-in-hand to keep your reputation above water when negative incidents occur.
Our first Crisis Management Infographic: The 3 C's of Credibility makes clear the three ingredients any successful crisis communications will contain.
The frequency with which dishonesty, or a lack of fact-checking, puts reputations in jeopardy, makes Bad E-Reporting a Crisis Management Concern.
Under Armour set expectations high when it came to their sponsorship of U.S. Speedskating at the Sochi Games, but when the medals failed to roll in, Under Armour's Olympic Crisis Management was put to the test.
Recognizing the weaknesses inherent in having outside contractors with control over or access to critical systems, White House Offers Crisis Management Help for Infrastructure Hacks. Will the new government program help organizations involved with the systems we use every day to protect themselves against cyber attacks?
Weak Media Appearances Will Crush Your Crisis Management. If you don't believe it, take a look at this example of a devastatingly poor press conference from the president of the West Virginia company that contaminated the water supply of some 300,000 residents.
What if you could stop negative sentiment from ever going public on the web? Preventative Crisis Management: Halt Negative Reviews in their Tracks looks at what the benefits are, and how you can put this practice into place for your organization.
Erik Bernstein is a freelance writer, editor of Crisis Manager, Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, and consultant/trainer at Bernstein Social Media.
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| Apropos of Nothing |
Social Media Training
Want to get your feet wet with social media but don't know where to start? Maybe you have accounts, but aren't sure what to post, or how to reply?
Being active on social media is a must these days, but you have to do it right. Erik Bernstein, Bernstein Crisis Management's Social Media Manager, now offers social media training sessions in person or via Skype for groups and individuals.
For questions or pricing info, please email erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com
Bernsteins Available to Deliver Free Guest Lectures, Q&A Sessions
Jonathan alone, or the team of Jonathan and Erik Bernstein, are available at no charge to deliver guest lectures and host Q&A sessions with college classes via Skype or Google Hangout. Our latest presentation was to a great graduate-level class in Crisis Management at the New York Institute of Technology!
The lectures are fun for us and students, and we're more than happy to allow recording for your future use. All you need at your end is a single computer with webcam and a strong broadband connection for us to appear in your classroom in real-time.
Contact us for more info!
Attention Corporate Boards of Directors (and those who serve them).
If you're connected with a corporate board of directors in some way and think that board would benefit from having a veteran crisis management pro amongst its membership, please contact me. -- Jonathan
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Business Announcements
(aka blatant self-promotion) Are your employees putting your company at risk? Most people don't recognize a well-crafted online phishing scam when they see one, and that's exactly what cybercriminals count on. With more than 500 million phishing emails being sent every day, and the increasing use of uncontrolled environments for accessing and sharing sensitive data, the need for proactive training has never been greater. You can help your organization fight back by changing the way security training is done. Here's our process: - Assess: Even before training begins, a simulated attack is launched on your employees. This not only helps you to assess current vulnerabilities, it also helps motivate employees to learn because they immediately realize how susceptible they are to an attack.
- Train: Our tactile approach to learning is proven to reduce employee vulnerability. Each 10-minute interactive and game-based module presents realistic examples and practice to engage your employees, improve their cyber security knowledge, reinforce learning, and measurably change their behavior.
- Measure: Data collected during training enables you to measure and report on the progress of your employees' learning. You'll know which employees are strong, and which are weaker in their cyber security knowledge - not just whether they completed the online training.
Don't let your employees fall for phishing scams hook, line, and sinker. Teach them how to recognize and avoid today's most advanced attacks before it's too late. Learn more! Our always-available, cloud-based training content is available in 7 languages. For pricing and demonstration information, contact erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com Expanded Crisis Manager Bookstore We've recently expanded the Crisis Manager Bookstore to include offerings from esteemed colleagues like Melissa Agnes, Gerald Baron, Chris Syme and Jim Lukaszewski that cover topics from crisis communication and traditional PR to social media and cutting-edge crisis management. We'll be adding other authors we admire in the weeks ahead.
Visit the new Crisis Manager Bookstore to see all of the material available now!
Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training  Learn how to deal with traditional or social media during a crisis in this educational and entertaining guide from Crisis Manager publisher Jonathan Bernstein. $25 for the hard copy and $10 for the PDF. Head to the Crisis Manager Bookstore for more information and/or to purchase.
Manager's Guide to Crisis Management
Whether you're a seasoned manager, aspiring up-and-comer, or student of crisis management, Jonathan Bernstein's textbook, Manager's Guide to Crisis Management (McGraw-Hill, 2011) will put you in control of any situation.
Looking for a Turn-Key Social Media Solution? Missing out on all the promotional, SEO and reputation management advantages of being active on social media platforms? Hire someone to be your voice...like Erik Bernstein, editor of Crisis Manager. He's the one largely responsible for keeping the Bernstein Crisis Management website and social media accounts highly ranked and popular and can do the same for you, while creating a set of valuable social presences that can be turned over to your full control at any time More info:erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com. |
Guest AuthorsGuest authors are very welcome to submit material for "Crisis Manager." There is no fee paid, but most guest authors have reported receiving business inquiries as a result of appearing in this publication. Case histories, experience-based lessons, commentary on current news events and editorial opinion are all eligible for consideration. Submission is not a guarantee of acceptance. |
About Us   Jonathan Bernstein is both publisher of Crisis Manager and president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., a national crisis management public relations agency providing 24/7 access to crisis response professionals. The agency engages in the full spectrum of crisis management services: crisis prevention, response, planning & training. He has been in the public relations field since 1982, following five-year stints in both military intelligence and investigative reporting. Write to Jonathan at: jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com. Erik Bernstein is editor of Crisis Manager and is also Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. Write to Erik at: erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com. |
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Legal Disclaimer (aka the small print)All information contained herein is obtained by Jonathan Bernstein from sources believed by Jonathan Bernstein to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, neither Jonathan Bernstein nor Bernstein Crisis Management is responsible for any errors or omissions. All information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Bernstein Crisis Management and Jonathan Bernstein make no representations and disclaim all express, implied, and statutory warranties of any kind to the user and/or any third party including, without limitation, warranties as to accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. Unless due to willful tortuous misconduct or gross negligence, Jonathan Bernstein and Bernstein Crisis Management shall have no liability in tort, contract, or otherwise (and as permitted by law, product liability), to the user and/or any third party. Under no circumstance shall Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein be liable to the user and/or any third party for any lost profits or lost opportunity, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages whatsoever, even if Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein has been advised of the possibility of such damages. A service of this newsletter is to provide news summaries and/or snippets to readers. In such instances articles and/or snippets will be reprinted as they are received from the originating party or as they are displayed on the originating website or in the original article. As we do not write the news, we merely point readers to it, under no circumstance shall Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein be liable to the user and/or any third party for any lost profits or lost opportunity, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages whatsoever due to the distribution of said news articles or snippets that lead readers to a full article on a news service's website, even if Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Authors of the original news story and their publications shall be exclusively held liable. Any corrections to news stories are not mandatory and shall be printed at the discretion of the list moderator after evaluation on a case-by-case basis. |
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