Meet FHR's minds: Charles Muggeridge, cyber and crisis communications
Meet FHR's minds: Charles Muggeridge, cyber and crisis communications
Charles Muggeridge is a senior vice-president and partner at FHR and the go-to contact for some of Canada’s biggest companies when it comes to reputation management. With a particular focus on cyber and crisis communications, Charles helps organizations protect and improve their reputations when it matters most.
Charles started his career as a journalist at the Welland Tribune in Southern Ontario and his passion for writing has carried with him since starting at FHR in 1995. How leaders and their messages are conveyed by media outlets has long been an area of interest and Charles believes helping clients articulate important thoughts in a compelling way is more than ever a foundational communications skill.
We sat down with Charles to get his thoughts on the trends he’s seeing in cyber communications and how companies can prepare for the inevitable breach of their organization.
When did your work in cyber communications and helping clients with cyber breaches start?
We’ve always had a strong reputation management and crisis practice, but about five years ago, Caroline Bretsen, Leslie Walsh and Angela Carmichael really laid the foundation at FHR for our cyber communications practice. Working closely with my colleague Anne Marie Quinn, we’ve since been able to realize the potential and turn that into important client engagements. We have built relationships with insurance companies, cyber breach coaches and now we’re the top preferred communications agency in the cyber breach space.
What does a good cyber response look like?
It starts with preparation and building resiliency. Clients who have a good crisis playbook in place are the ones who are most likely to see the other side of the turmoil with minimal reputational damage.
The clients that communicate with clarity, transparency and accuracy are the ones who are successful in navigating a breach. Companies and leaders who also understand how the audiences on the receiving end of their messages will receive them tend navigate a crisis better than those that just go through the motions of informing key stakeholders.
Messaging really does matter.
What are some cyber response trends that you've noticed over the last few years?
Everyone's seen the increase in cyber incidents: today, they’re virtually all ransomware attacks. Operations are shut down because systems are encrypted and if backups don’t exist, the ability to do business is jeopardized. The data is stolen, exfiltrated, and potentially leaked. The privacy of your stakeholders, your employees and your customers is at risk. The question these organizations face is “Am I going to pay ransom to de-encrypt my systems?”, which is a difficult decision. You have to ask yourself as an organization: Will we pay cyber criminals? Many are saying no. Interestingly, both avenues bring reputation risk.
Boards of directors – and company leadership – are also paying attention to reputation in a way that they might not have before. Reputation risk is now their number one concern. That realization comes from knowledge that when a company's reputation takes a hit, it's usually bad for business.
With regards to crisis response, how have client needs changed over the course of your career?
Crises – and particularly cyber breaches – are often amplified through social media now, and the ability for individuals to comment on what they think is happening is unlimited. When you are working through a crisis, or preparing for a crisis, you are thinking about all your stakeholders, audiences and channels; social is a crucial one, but is often treated as an afterthought. Clients need to be thinking about it from the jump, as it is a communication channel that can get away from them quickly to form a narrative that is hard to shake.
Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share on the importance of crisis management and cyber preparedness?
As a business, there’s nothing more important than your reputation. The era of cyberattacks is not going anywhere and only going to get worse. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and in this case, the ounce of prevention is having a good crisis playbook to draw from. Businesses that don’t have a roadmap are playing a risky game that could cost them millions of dollars – in reputational damage, response costs and lost business.
Contact Charles today for a free one-hour cyber communications risk assessment.
Charles Muggeridge is a senior vice-president and partner at FHR and the go-to contact for some of Canada’s biggest companies when it comes to reputation management. With a particular focus on cyber and crisis communications, Charles helps organizations protect and improve their reputations when it matters most.
Charles started his career as a journalist at the Welland Tribune in Southern Ontario and his passion for writing has carried with him since starting at FHR in 1995. How leaders and their messages are conveyed by media outlets has long been an area of interest and Charles believes helping clients articulate important thoughts in a compelling way is more than ever a foundational communications skill.
We sat down with Charles to get his thoughts on the trends he’s seeing in cyber communications and how companies can prepare for the inevitable breach of their organization.
When did your work in cyber communications and helping clients with cyber breaches start?
We’ve always had a strong reputation management and crisis practice, but about five years ago, Caroline Bretsen, Leslie Walsh and Angela Carmichael really laid the foundation at FHR for our cyber communications practice. Working closely with my colleague Anne Marie Quinn, we’ve since been able to realize the potential and turn that into important client engagements. We have built relationships with insurance companies, cyber breach coaches and now we’re the top preferred communications agency in the cyber breach space.
What does a good cyber response look like?
It starts with preparation and building resiliency. Clients who have a good crisis playbook in place are the ones who are most likely to see the other side of the turmoil with minimal reputational damage.
The clients that communicate with clarity, transparency and accuracy are the ones who are successful in navigating a breach. Companies and leaders who also understand how the audiences on the receiving end of their messages will receive them tend navigate a crisis better than those that just go through the motions of informing key stakeholders.
Messaging really does matter.
What are some cyber response trends that you've noticed over the last few years?
Everyone's seen the increase in cyber incidents: today, they’re virtually all ransomware attacks. Operations are shut down because systems are encrypted and if backups don’t exist, the ability to do business is jeopardized. The data is stolen, exfiltrated, and potentially leaked. The privacy of your stakeholders, your employees and your customers is at risk. The question these organizations face is “Am I going to pay ransom to de-encrypt my systems?”, which is a difficult decision. You have to ask yourself as an organization: Will we pay cyber criminals? Many are saying no. Interestingly, both avenues bring reputation risk.
Boards of directors – and company leadership – are also paying attention to reputation in a way that they might not have before. Reputation risk is now their number one concern. That realization comes from knowledge that when a company's reputation takes a hit, it's usually bad for business.
With regards to crisis response, how have client needs changed over the course of your career?
Crises – and particularly cyber breaches – are often amplified through social media now, and the ability for individuals to comment on what they think is happening is unlimited. When you are working through a crisis, or preparing for a crisis, you are thinking about all your stakeholders, audiences and channels; social is a crucial one, but is often treated as an afterthought. Clients need to be thinking about it from the jump, as it is a communication channel that can get away from them quickly to form a narrative that is hard to shake.
Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share on the importance of crisis management and cyber preparedness?
As a business, there’s nothing more important than your reputation. The era of cyberattacks is not going anywhere and only going to get worse. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and in this case, the ounce of prevention is having a good crisis playbook to draw from. Businesses that don’t have a roadmap are playing a risky game that could cost them millions of dollars – in reputational damage, response costs and lost business.
Contact Charles today for a free one-hour cyber communications risk assessment.
Charles Muggeridge
Charles Muggeridge
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Public affairs, corporate reputation, brand marketing, social and digital. All under one roof.