As technology permeates every part of our regular lives, the constant calls for improved personalisation and convenience have seen an exponential rise in data collection. With legislation catching up, and the ease in which bad actors can collaborate to cause damage, organisations are increasingly put in a position where they need to balance technological advancements while navigating legal and communication risks.

At the Klareco Insights session held on 30 August 2018, more than 20 senior executives from organisations across multiple industries joined our panel of experts to discuss the latest trends, insights and solutions in information security, while we deep dive into management of possible cyber crisis.

One key takeaway from the conversation is proper internal processes and tight coordination across departments from technology, legal, to communications is the way to prevent and manage any possible crisis scenarios relating to information security.

We present some of the key highlights from our speakers:

In this digital age, you need to be quick in actions and communications, it is important to have a smooth transition internally before you transmit externally.

When it comes to communicating in a cyber crisis, there are so many competing priorities. Coordination needs to be absolutely clear. Working together and planning in advance between all the different areas will allow you to do the most important thing, which is giving yourself the best possible chance at keeping your reputation intact.

 – Mark Worthington, Managing Director, Klareco Communications

It is no longer enough to stop at building a secure infrastructure. Organisations must also address the human factor by cultivating an informed and proactive workforce.

It’s not just taking care of the hardware but the ‘heartware’ as well. In this aspect, the human factor is very important. Research has shown that up to 35% of cyber breaches are the result of human error and negligence. As communications professionals, we have a very important part to play in terms of managing the ‘heartware’

– Ang Shih-Huei, Chief Executive Officer, Klareco Communications

Take a step back and have a holistic approach to understand what data is important to people. Build policies around it, conduct analysis and audits to find any weaknesses. Lastly, implement the policies and standard operating procedures.

– Chew Kherk Ying, Head of the Intellectual Property and Dispute Resolution Practice Groups in Wong & Partners

Prevention through a comprehensive protection reduces the risk of a reputation or financial loss.

Everything is going to the clouds. As the data owner of information of a company, I need to ensure no sensitive information leaves my company to any third party or the public. Such leakages can cause a lot of pain and damages to a company’s reputation and financial status.

– Yuri Savilov, Head of International Implementations, InfoWatch