Social Media In Disaster Risk Reduction: A Case Study On Cadbury Company Cyber Attack

The Cyber Attack on Cadbury Company

Discuss about the Social Media in Disaster Risk Reduction.

Issue can arrive at any point of time which can lead to crisis if not managed properly. The process used for identifying and solving the issues is known as issue management. Issues can be categorized as problems in the organization with the staff or suppliers, any kind of technical failure or material shortage or unavailability of resources. All these issues will have a negative impact on the organization so they need to be mitigated soon for better organizational performance. In the same way, crisis is also a threat to the organization which needs to be resolved by crisis management plan(Alexander 2014). Thus, a total corporate response can be built up with the identification of the crisis. A crisis not only damages the organization but also its stakeholders and general public. Crisis management became popular in the 1980s when industries and environment had to come across ample amount of disasters. Crisis in an organization can question the public safety, lead to economic loss and also hamper reputation. For managing crisis it is important to identify the issue at first which will help in the smooth management of the situation.

For this particular assignment, the issue of cyber attack on the Cadbury Company of Australia will be taken into consideration. The details of the crisis will be elaborate along with the steps taken to reduce the crisis.

To resolve the crisis the project manager prepares a crisis management plan from bringing visibility to the issue and accountability as to how it can be resolved (Argenti 2015). A crisis management plan is composed of various steps which need to be followed accordingly.

In the case of Cadbury Company the issue identified was the ransomeware attack.  WannaCryransomeware attack that had spread across the world in May 2017 was targeted towards the computers which ran under Microsoft Windows Operating System.  It had affected the online service by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments. It was reported to affect more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries in a single day(Black 2013).

The Cadbury factory in Australia was also targeted by the ransomeware attack which had affected the IT system of the company. The production of the company came to a halt when the computer system started de- functioning. Experts had described it as cyber attack. Actually it was a worldwide malware attack which took a toll on the biggest oil companies, banks and shutting down the computer operations at the multinational companies, shipping and advertising agencies. The company chosen for this assignment was ordered to pay the ransom in Bitcoin currency. The message on the computer screen showed that the files on the computer are not accessible as they were encrypted. It was clearly stated that Cadbury should not waste time by trying to recover the files. Instead the company should send $300 in the value of Bitcoin to the mentioned address. This was a terrible threat to the company’s reputation and they have not given a thought to the security and safety of their computers until that day. The online system of the Cadbury was regarded as the most advanced and highly automated as most of their services were carried out through the computer operations. They also had the most updated virus protection security. Even with the most advanced and upgraded computer system, the company had to face such a disaster. They were among those companies who took the online activities seriously(Booth 2015). This is because they believed that with lack of attention in the performance of computer system the workers get affected the most. But the crisis of ransomeware had left them in trouble as to when will the problem be resolved.

Mendelow’s Matrix

The solution of the problem is not yet decided, as it was reported by the company. They were working with their utmost effort offline to address the global concern. With the resolution of this crisis the Cadbury Company will be able to continue their business in the previous way to meet up to the expectations of the customers and consumes all over the world.

The issue was identified when the operation came to a halt all of a sudden and the company had no idea about the cause. They were also ready to share their recent updates about the solution with the suppliers and other available stakeholders.But they cannot assure when the online systems will be ready for operating and therefore they expect everyone’s patience, cooperation and understanding. The severity of the attack began with a tiny code in the Word and PDF document and resulted in the shutdown of the global online system. So it was not easy to find an immediate solution to such a huge problem. 

The hacking tool used in WannaCryransomeware was similar to the Petyaransomeware which was resolved by a British researcher by a kill- switch and that included a code, ‘eternal blue’. The injuries done by the ransomeware attack takes time to completely heal (Coombs 2014). It is said that every company is attacked by ransomware each 40 seconds. WannaCry was regarded as the biggest cyber attack in the history of internet ever.

It is not an easy task to find instant solution to these cyber attacks but as a cyber security lecturer mentioned that there are businesses which are able to protect themselves from cyber attacks. It is not impossible to bring down the risk to zero level. The probable solution for these kinds of attacks was to make sure that the IT systems were properly patched. This is because it was observed after the attack that there are many companies with similar systems but only with the older unpatched IT systems was targeted (Coombs et al. 2016).

Strength- The strong network of an expert team and early identification	Weakness- Hamper in the production of the company with loss in sales
Opportunities- Ready solution saved the company from major loss and effective media plan helped in better communication	Threat- Other companies gained profit due to the attack on Cadbury company

High interest	The employees and suppliers were not allowed to suffer due to this crisis. Mainstream media was immediately informed	Executive, software developers carried out their duty accordingly. The public demands were met along with abidance b the government norms
Low interest	People were not faced with a direct impact as the attack was mainly on the industry	The main professional and the online industry bloggers were given relevant information
	Low influence	High influence

The strategic response involved the immediate dissemination of information to the public through various channels of media. The spokesperson of the company reached out to the target group by using broadcasting, print and online media. 

The strategies were implemented appropriately to make sure that the company reputation is not hampered in any way and their future sales are not to be affected.

The issue was evaluated to find out that it had affected a lot of companies and a little bit of precaution could have saved Cadbury from getting affected (Smith 2013).

Strategy Decision

The Cadbury Company was particular in this aspect of acknowledging the issue that they had to face due to an unexpected attack. They did not hide the fact that their unpatched IT systems were responsible that they could not prevent this accident.

Although the attack of ransomware is few months old but its effects are still not negligible. A kill switch that was invented for this cyber attack made it possible to prevent further spread of the threat.

Experts on computers and other security all over the globe have tried to find out the factors responsible for this disastrous crisis. It was earlier suspected that North Korea was behind this attack but nothing could be assured. The encrypted code of WannaCry was found similar to another hacking group known as Lazarus. It was a matter of worry that whether the motive behind this attack was only financial gain or something more destructive as only a small sum was demanded (Dozier, Grunig and Grunig 2013).

The board of members, employees, customers, other upcoming and potential customers, government authorities and media are the main stakeholders of the company.

The Cadbury Company became the first among other Australian businesses to get affected by the cyber attack. The reason behind this can be an old unpatched IT system of their operational activities. The factors that added to the intensity of the attack included the maximum amount of work that is done in the company with the help of internet. Their complete dependence on the computer and internet made them suffer a lot as a result of this damage. The company which produces around 50000 tons of chocolates every year had to face a major loss in sales because of this sudden attack (Drennan, McConnell and Stark 2014).

The crisis of the company as a result of the cyber attack was informed to the internal and external publics attached to the company. Even the interviews by the spokesperson of the let the world know about the crisis that they were facing. It was also mentioned that the problem has been looked after and it will be resolved soon. Press releases were sent to the media and also on the company websites and social media pages. It is not enough to communicate the crisis but people would like to see the actions that are being taken in order to compensate the crisis(Genserik and Thierry 2016).

Categorization of Crisis

 But the company which is selected in this scenario did not follow any unethical means to manage their crisis. They had simply accepted the crisis that had occurred due to the ransomware attack(Jin, Liu and Austin 2014). The company had tried to manage the crisis in the early stage so that the internal and external publics are not offended. They made accurate fact checking so that their message is clear and not misinterpreted. The company had chosen the spokesperson to be their CEO who will be accepted by the stakeholders and other people. The publics were also informed that their life will not be affected anyhow by this sudden attack and their services will not be affected in any way(Williams et al. 2017). The success laid on the selection of their communication tools because they had used all the channels to reach out to the public. The CEO had clearly stated the amount of effect that has been imposed on the company and the steps that they have undertaken to come out from the threat. He appreciated the effort of the stakeholders who were working to manage the crisis situation. This statement was gladly accepted by the people and kept them pacified in such a heated situation. The people were provided with clear data and calculation about the clear strategies that were being implemented by them (Ulmer, Sellnow and Seeger 2013).

Conclusion

With effective crisis management by the company, they were able to regain their position in the market. Unlike many other companies, they have accepted their crisis that evolved due to ransomware attack and stopped the production of the company. This has resulted in a complete evaluation and scrutiny of the company. Computer experts were called who had put their utmost effort to manage the crisis. Although the production was hampered temporarily but gradually they have recovered. The crisis had dropped the retailer stocking and also de- motivated the employees. The morale of the employees got low which affected the reputation of the company. It became a challenge for the company to bring back the lost confidence of its stakeholders. A strong and focused communication program by the company had been successful in gaining the credibility and reliability. The sales volume had increased ultimately and came closer to the pre- crisis levels. It not only helped in regaining the morale of the stakeholders but also attained customer satisfaction. This striking example of the company sets a recognition in the field of crisis management.

Reference

Alexander, D.E., 2014. Social media in disaster risk reduction and crisis management. Science and Engineering Ethics, 20(3), pp.717-733.

Argenti, P.A., 2015. Corporate communication. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Black, S., 2013. Practice of public relations. Routledge.

Booth, S.A., 2015. Crisis management strategy: Competition and change in modern enterprises. Routledge.

Coombs, W.T., 2014. Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Sage Publications.

Coombs, W.T., Coombs, W.T., Holladay, S.J., Holladay, S.J., Claeys, A.S. and Claeys, A.S., 2016. Debunking the myth of denial’s effectiveness in crisis communication: context matters. Journal of Communication Management, 20(4), pp.381-395.

Dozier, D.M., Grunig, L.A. and Grunig, J.E., 2013. Manager’s guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.

Drennan, L.T., McConnell, A. and Stark, A., 2014. Risk and crisis management in the public sector. Routledge.

Drennan, L.T., McConnell, A. and Stark, A., 2014. Risk and crisis management in the public sector. Routledge.

Genserik, R. and Thierry, M., 2016. 8 Crisis management.

Jin, Y., Liu, B.F. and Austin, L.L., 2014. Examining the role of social media in effective crisis management: The effects of crisis origin, information form, and source on publics’ crisis responses. Communication research, 41(1), pp.74-94.

Smith, R.D., 2013. Strategic planning for public relations. Routledge.

Timothy Coombs, W. and Jean Holladay, S., 2014. How publics react to crisis communication efforts: Comparing crisis response reactions across sub-arenas. Journal of Communication Management, 18(1), pp.40-57.

Ulmer, R.R., Sellnow, T.L. and Seeger, M.W., 2013. Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications.

Williams, T.A., Gruber, D.A., Sutcliffe, K.M., Shepherd, D.A. and Zhao, E.Y., 2017. Organizational Response to Adversity: Fusing Crisis Management and Resilience Research Streams. Academy of Management Annals, 11(2), pp.733-769.