The timely adoption of effective measures in violation of the confidentiality of the company’s clients’ data will reduce their outflow and the amount of compensated damages and sanctions. Leakage of customer personal data can become critical for the company. This Risk Report focuses on looking at the root causes of data breaches in a company and identifying possible ways to prevent the risk of data breaches in the future.
Personal data leak scenarios and the associated risks are individual for each company and depend on the specifics of its activities. The report analyzed the threats that resulted from the current communications crisis at Trexpedition. Since the organization owns sensitive data and, in line with the expectations of its customers, shareholders, business partners, and supervisors must ensure that it is protected (Sellnow et al., 2013). As the company did not provide a staff of employees responsible for cybersecurity, the risk of data breaches was initially highly high. Since the state team was not sufficiently competent in security and responsibility for customer data, there was a massive data leak into the global network.
Another potential risk of data leakage could be the activity of hackers to learn personal information about customers. The consequences for customers whose confidentiality has been violated due to fraudulent activities largely depend on the composition of the information disclosed. The risk of a data breach can be a wrong action by an employee with devastating consequences. Every employee in an enterprise is a potential threat to information security.
Thus, due to the leakage of customer data, Trexpedition faced potential risks that could affect the future and reputation of the company. A map was compiled showing the most severe risks for a more precise definition of the possible risks. According to this map, the priorities of the risks faced by the company were highlighted. First of all, after the data breach, the company met financial risks.
As a result of data leakage, there is a risk of payment to all customers whose data is in the global network, compensation for improper storage of information by the company. Thus, the company will be forced to allocate funds for the payment of these compensations. In this case, Trexpedtion will protect against claims from customers and further litigation, leading to significant financial losses and a crisis.
Moreover, the company may face a decline in prices for its services. It is worth paying attention to this since customers may stop trusting the company after a massive data breach, which means that profits will decrease. The company may also face business risk and a threat to its reputation in the global marketplace due to the uncertainty of other companies that all safety conditions will be met. To reduce such risks in the future, the company must revise the security, exchange, and storage of customer data. The company should strengthen its cybersecurity department, responsible for possible risks of data leakage to the global network. Thus, the company can prevent the stakes in the future.
In the event of a crisis, one of the main dangers for the company is the severance of relations with customers. The company is responsible for the problem; since its reputation can be undermined, it is necessary to provide effective communication in crises to reduce the negative towards the company. Loss of customer relationships is critical for the company and results in a loss of investment (Natti et al., 2014). When interacting with strategic accounts, there are many unforeseen circumstances: the level of reciprocity and responsibility in the relationship and the need to provide open and accurate information to partners to develop the relationship. The importance of informing clients is that the more communication between people during the confrontation, the less the conflict situation affects the company’s activities.
When a company publishes the data of victims of a crisis, they make choices that can jeopardize their privacy and exacerbate the victims’ situation about what happened. The decision to hide some information from the public, based on fears of public panic, deprives people of the information they need. In this case, the company faces a moral and ethical dilemma. Thus, Trexpedition should disclose information about the data breach and name those customers whose data got into the global network.
Organizations are part of a broader social context and therefore must adhere to more general norms and values that govern that context. In responding to the crisis, organizations are expected to adhere to core social norms and values, which will help reduce customer anxiety about data breaches. This means that Trexpedition is committed to disclosing data breaches immediately following the incident. This will protect customers from adverse circumstances that they may face since their data is in the public domain. Thus, despite the crisis in the company, customers will be confident in its successful resolution because the company informs about the problems immediately. To disclose information, each client should be individually informed about their data leakage and report about the crisis through the media.
Proposed Message for Clients
Dear Trexpedition clients! We inform you about the problematic situation of the Trexpedition company, which faced a crisis. We regret to report that due to some circumstances, our company has leaked customer data. To protect our customers, we inform you that we also mean that customers’ location and route were found on the network by customer data.
At the moment, the cybersecurity department in the company is figuring out why there was a leak of customer data into the network. We hope for your understanding and support of the company at such a difficult moment. To ensure your safety, we strongly recommend changing the username and password you used to enter the accounting system. The company has closed all accounts, so customers do not have to worry about further spreading their data on the global network. To prevent further data leakage, Trexpedition plans to introduce a two-step login system. This will help protect customers from making their data publicly available.
The company will also provide services to combat the negative impact of data breaches. Thus, Trexpedition undertakes to pay compensation to clients whose data is in the public domain. Moreover, we will monitor the use of customer data and report in case of suspicious activity. Thank you for understanding!
Proposed Message for Public
Trexpedition reports that the company faced difficulties that led to the crisis. We are forced to inform the public that there was a failure in the cybersecurity department. As a result, the personal data of clients was in the public domain. The company takes full responsibility for customer data leakage and reports that all necessary actions are being taken to stabilize the situation.
Presumably, the data leak was due to the incompetence of the cybersecurity department. The company assures that after the crisis is resolved, all employees of the department and the security policy of the company itself will be revised. At this stage, the company’s actions aim to prevent further data leakage to the global network. Trexpedition commits to compensate all clients whose data is in the public domain.
Despite the difficulties faced by the company, we can guarantee success in overcoming the crisis since the company’s policy is aimed at the comfort of customers. We also publicly apologize for the failure of the company’s security system to live up to expectations. To resolve the crisis, we direct all possible funds to the company.
We thank all our clients for their understanding and patience in difficult conditions. The company looks forward to furthering cooperation. For clients, a verification system will be formed, which includes several levels of security. Thus, we will be able to guarantee safety on the company and the methods of entering customer data to prevent data leakage in the future.
In case of a crisis announcement in a company, the best risk announcement would be a message via mobile phones since they are often located near the client. Not only calls but also SMS will help inform the client about the crisis, as SMS comes even when the connection is disconnected (Wrobel and Sharon, 2009). However, the delivery of the message to the public will be different. In a public announcement of a company’s crisis, television, radio, and the Internet are the best options. These delivery methods capture the attention of most of the audience, which contributes to the rapid dissemination of information.
Reference List
Natti, S., Rakholin, S., Saraniemi, S. (2014). ‘Crisis communication in key account relationships’. Bradford, 19(3), pp. 234-246.
Sellnow, Timothy L., et al. (2013). Theorizing Crisis Communication, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. ProQuest Ebook Central. Web.
Wrobel, Leo A., and Sharon M. Wrobel. (2009). Disaster Recovery Planning for Communications and Critical Infrastructure, Artech House. ProQuest Ebook Central. Web.