Did you know that cybercrime poses one of the most significant institutional reputation risks today?
Many communications professionals in our region remain unaware and underprepared. Yet the Middle East has been recognised as one of the most attacked regions by hackers worldwide. A Dark Matter report from 2019 further reports that the UAE is one of the world’s most-targeted countries.*
Cyber breaches also cost organisations – often substantially. The Middle East recorded the second highest average cost of data breaches worldwide in 2019 at a $5.97 million impact per cyberattack.* Even if the commercial damage is contained, once a company’s defences are breached, the damage to reputation can be devastating. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. By destroying reputations, cybercrime destroys business.
In this exclusive session for MEPRA, Kekst CNC’s cyber crisis lead Ben Curson will explain how a cyber attack is different from any other reputational crisis, how stakeholders respond and what messages companies need to be communicating if the worst happens. He will outline what makes an effective approach to handling a cyber incident, the importance of preparedness and how senior management works best with IT and legal teams to effectively communicate and mitigate reputational damage at the time of an incident, helping the organisation to recover more quickly.
* IBM & Ponemon Institute Global Cost of a Data Breach Study 2019
The event will begin with a members networking session. Breakfast refreshments provided.
REGISTRATIONS ARE ESSESNTIAL.
Registrations close 5th December 2019
The session is worth 5 CPD points.
Presenter: Ben Curson, Kekst CNC London.
Ben Curson is a senior corporate issues and crisis management consultant, with long-standing experience in communications across a wide range of sectors and geographies, including living and working in the Gulf region. He has particular experience of working with global businesses and managing communications across multiple markets. He provides strategic counsel to senior executives of UK and global companies and institutions, and leads Kekst CNC’s EMEA crisis and cyber work. Having worked as a broadcast journalist and press officer at the Co-operative Group, Ben has subsequently spent most of his career in consultancy, firstly as a Partner at Penrose Financial and then as Group Managing Director at H+K Strategies in London. Prior to joining Kekst CNC, Ben was Managing Partner at Instinctif Partners responsible for the Corporate and Financial Services teams. Ben is a regular speaker at conferences and events on crisis and cyber communications issues.
Location
InterContinental Dubai Marina. Room location will be provided once your registration has been confirmed.
Accreditation
MEPRA has partnered with UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) to establish a continuous professional development (CPD) program. MEPRA members will receive access to CIPR’s CPD platform, which includes more than 1,200 learning resources and enables practitioners to map their training journey and earn their way to becoming MEPRA and CIPR Accredited Public Relations Practitioners. This course is worth 5 CPD points. For more information on CPD and accreditation click here.
This is a free course, exclusive to members. To enrol, please register online or email community@mepra.org For any additional enquiries, please call Sabrina De Palma, Executive Director on +971 55 5318 920 Please be advised that refreshments are paid for in advance and if you find that you are unable to attend, we kindly ask to let us know on receiving final confirmation by email one week in advance of the event.
If you would like to book more than one space for this event, please send your full name and email address to community@mepra.org Event allocation is dependent on membership level and availability and is at the discretion of MEPRA.
