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 …

Allegiant’s Emergency Landing Puts Reputation at Risk

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Response Leave a Comment

Poor communications and a questionable explanation leaves the airline’s most valuable asset in danger Allegiant Airlines’ emergency landing at a then-closed Fargo, ND airport raised serious questions about safety. And, when your organization revolves around carrying passengers some 30,000+ in the air, that means immediate damage to your reputation. Given …

Checkers Drops the Bun with Weak Crisis Response

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Response, public relations, reputation management, social media, YouTube 2 Comments

Poor response to a predictable crisis compounds damage Burger joint Checkers, also known as Rallys in some areas, is the latest fast food chain to find itself in crisis thanks to a stomach-turning video posted to social media. While the identity of the original poster is unclear, several individuals have used …

IAAF Leaps into Crisis Prevention with Fiery Release

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, international crisis management, public relations, reputation management, sports crisis management Leave a Comment

Sporting regulator fights back against allegations of negligence Early this morning we published a post covering shocking allegations from UK paper The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD/WDR regarding the prevalence of doping in international sport and the alleged lack of action from the International Association of Athletics Federations. We …

International Athletics Threatened by Doping Scandal

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Response, international crisis management, public relations, reputation management, sports crisis management 1 Comment

Did the regulating body allow suspicious athletes to compete and win over a 10+ year span? A new report from The Sunday Times sent shocks racing through the sporting world thanks to serious allegations of an absolute epidemic of doping by competitors at the world’s biggest events. What sparked it …

Cyberbullying – a Crisis Management Issue

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyberbullying, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein 1 Comment

A growing concern among business owners Cyberbullying has grown from a niche subject into a hot topic over the past few years. While initial discussion of cyberbullying focused on interactions between young people, today businesses can be, and are being, cyberbullied on an increasingly regular basis. What does cyberbullying look …

Sometimes People Die

Erik Bernstein Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Losses are best handled with a plan made in advance People die. It’s an uncomfortable reality, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore it. When you’re putting together crisis management plans you have to face a number of unhappy thoughts, and one is that you’ll need to carry on if …

Learning from the OPM Data Breach

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis preparedness, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, reputation management Leave a Comment

Doing nothing is not a crisis management strategy that produces results The Office of Personnel Management breach is attracting a lot of attention thanks to the staggering number of federal employees possibly affected – nearly 18 million the last time a total tall was announced – and the clear lack …

PayPal’s User Agreement Faux Pas

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Response, reputation management Leave a Comment

Unclear wording created a PR crisis for the payment service PayPal found out firsthand the troubles incautious wording can cause after not only customers, but also industry regulators, voiced their concerns about its new user agreement. In it, PayPal appeared to give itself the right to fire up the robocallers, …

Talking FIFA, Sepp, and Crisis Management

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, PR, public relations, reputation management, sports crisis management Leave a Comment

An ugly situation and a chance to do better Although FIFA’s reputation has slowly been sliding downhill as a result of years of questionable decisions and shady dealings, the corruption charges leveled against officials at the organization by Swiss and U.S. authorities gave it a big shove off the reputation …

Public Opinion in PR Crises

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Response, public relations Leave a Comment

Your reaction to crises can help shift public opinion Public opinion often shifts rapidly when it comes to crises, and how you react in the immediate aftermath can have a major impact on which direction it goes. The team at Alterian put together an awesome infographic demonstrating how this happened …

Send in the Reinforcements!

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Don’t let a sudden spike in workload worsen an ongoing crisis When you’re running an organization you staff for day-to-day operations because keeping extra bodies on the clock is a waste of resources. What happens, however, when a crisis suddenly ups the volume of work far beyond what you’re able …

SeaWorld's Hashtag Disaster

Jonathan and Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management, social media Leave a Comment

Before you launch that “hot” new hashtag, stop and think about what could go wrong What’s it going to take for people to learn that you can’t just slap up a hashtag and assume the outcome will be a positive one? From huge organizations like McDonald’s and British Gas to …

The Dangers of Oversharing

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, social media Leave a Comment

Watching what you post is a must for both personal and business crisis management Sharing on social media seems innocent enough to most, but it can create all sorts of issues. One of the most common, and most damaging, is oversharing of personal info. As you can see in this …

Erroneous College Acceptance Letter Spark Crisis

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, reputation management, school crisis management Leave a Comment

Flawed process devastates 800 eager students About 800 applicants to Carnegie Mellon’s elite master’s program for computer science had a brief moment of excitement before their hopes were dashed after receiving erroneous acceptance emails from the university. The emails were sent on a Monday, and by mid-day Tuesday Carnegie Mellon’s …