The Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) fell on their sword yesterday admitting to the cyber security attack and data breach claims made over the weekend by Ransomexx hackers.
It’s said it’s either through human error or an inside job that a cyber breach occurs. Now, every company has a story to tell. What most companies lack, however, are available resources with the right skills to tell that story effectively.
Read: What Is Storytelling?
Analyzing the Nov 3rd article in The Daily Express, it’s clear TSTT doesn’t have a crisis management firm helping them navigate this story.
Think about it. Your customers’ private information was just dumped on the dark web and you’re punctuating this story with a happy picture face — are you happy to deliver this news? Is this pleasant news? A brand’s image is super vulnerable to the wrong impression, one single misstep or in this case, 'unexpected' adverse event, can jeopardize its reputation in the minds of its customers. Something TSTT would have been able to avoid if they were conscious of their brand.
In preparation for Cru Nonpareil’s 2020 feature with The Express, photos were requested for that article. So, after TSTT’s initial failure to get in front of this situation, it’s possible they took the opportunity to redeem their status in the minds of over one million customers with a picture that says ‘We can't be trusted?’ And don’t even think having no control over choosing the picture makes it better — it’s even worse! The company is too big and the matter too sensitive to be that sloppy.
Since this article came out, I’ve heard statements such as…
“She’s only smiling because she was part of it”
“No one smiles when delivering bad news”
“Dem don’t care about nobody”
“These people full of crap”
“This didn’t happen just so, its willful”,
it even escalated to threats of violence.
Where is Olivia Pope when you need her?
What is Brand Crisis Management?
Do you recall Mellie’s affair with Andrew in season 5 of Scandal?
Fitz was so appalled, the audacity of the affair. And if it got out?…The President of The United States of America’s wife and Vice President to be…gasp! He’ll be humiliated!
So he called Olivia to handle it.
Olivia Pope dismantling Andrew Nicholas
The main objective of brand crisis management is to protect and restore an affected brand’s image during and after a crisis. Olivia’s “talents”, a set of proven approaches, that according to the situation, get the job done, are from on the job experiences (not chatGPT).
These experts are brought in to specifically help mitigate potential harm and ensure the brand emerges stronger afterwards.
This is what I saw was lacking from a seemingly simple photo choice…crisis management for the brand. And given the company’s size and that it’s a monopoly, I immediately thought ‘you can afford an Olivia Pope, why don’t you have one?’
…Because Branding In Trinidad and Tobago Is Puffery and Hoodwinking
Read more about it here: https://www.facebook.com/506036897/videos/868367151577566/
In 2018 I shared a story about a UK couple who lost £120,000 due to email fraud. In that article I’m making the point about ‘how telling it is of your priorities as a business’ that you would choose to wait until a crisis situation before you’re convinced you need to put certain things in place.
No loss of data from cyber attack? Nothing’s more disgusting than making a potential crisis seem as if it’s not that big of a deal. But I’ve come across many local business owners with this way of thinking.
They rather pinch pennies than hire the best: without understanding the talking points of their brand, they’ll take selfies or quickly hire any ole photographer without considering speciality then point fingers instead of showing accountability — Google’s most basic email service doesn’t just rely on our password strength for safety. They also have fail-safe measures in place because their brand is on the line in the event something goes wrong.
It’s said cyber breaches happen every 39 seconds yet local business owners rather wait for one before updating or implementing security measures for the people sharing sensitive information with their business online.
Customer service is a buzzword for companies in Trinidad and Tobago. Imagine waiting 48 working hours for an email due to lack of infrastructure. They don’t care that these things weakens their brand, they’re too busy getting away with making promises they don’t keep because “customers have no choice."
My advice to small businesses? Walk the talk: don’t take what a brand and branding is for granted because unlike big companies, small service businesses don’t have customers to lose.
Are you now hearing about The TSTT Ransomware Attack?
Here are some resources below to acquaint yourself with:
Hackers claim ransomware attack on TSTT
Over one million TSTT customer records on dark web
Gonzales: Ransomware attack on TSTT ‘not true’
Yes TSTT customers, your personal information is on the dark web
Minister orders independent investigation into TSTT data breach
Rowley’s data leaked in cyberattack
Are you in the TSTT data dump? Find out here…
Feel free to listen to the article here:
I am the Founder and Visual Brand Strategist at The BrandTUB **Schedule a call with me if you need help with your visual branding. Lets see if you're a good fit! **Figure out what you're trying to say about your brand with The One-Page Workbook™ **Sign up to receive these weekly articles in your inbox if you’re not quite ready to work with me yet.
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