ClevrChat - Cyber incident management: How organisations can improve readiness before a cyber attack
Summary
In this episode of ClevrChat, cybersecurity leader Lauren Wilson discusses what organisations should prioritise to improve cyber incident management, strengthen cyber resilience, and prepare for today’s evolving threat landscape.
Drawing on more than a decade of experience leading responses to major cyber incidents, Lauren explains why effective incident response is about far more than technical tools. Instead, successful organisations focus on governance, clear roles and responsibilities, communication, executive preparedness and regular incident exercises that enable faster, more coordinated decision-making when a cyber attack occurs.
The conversation explores why cyber incident readiness should be treated like any other business continuity exercise, how organisations can avoid common communication mistakes during incidents, and why every business should develop a culture where cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility.
Lauren also shares practical advice on preparing boards for cyber crises, learning from high-profile attacks without overreacting to headlines, and building diverse cybersecurity teams that improve decision-making under pressure.
Whether you’re an IT Director, CIO, CISO or business leader, this episode provides practical guidance on creating a more resilient organisation that is prepared to respond when, not if, a cyber incident occurs.
Timestamps
0:44 Cyber incident management priorities for organisations with limited resources
3:26 What often goes wrong in incident management
6:02 External communication strategies during incidents
7:55 The need for incident readiness and practice
12:14 What to really learn from cyber security news headlines
15:12 Embedding a cybersecurity culture in organisations
18:02 Celebrate security wins!
18:15 Why diversity is so important in cybersecurity
Key takeaways
Prioritise governance before technology
Successful cyber incident management starts with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and decision-making processes. Governance provides the structure needed to respond quickly under pressure.
Identify your critical business assets
Organisations should understand their “crown jewels” and build incident response and recovery plans around the systems and services that are most critical to business operations.
Communication determines the success of an incident response
Both internal and external communications need to be timely, coordinated and accurate. A single source of truth helps reduce confusion and supports better executive decision-making.
Practise incident response regularly
Cyber incident exercises, including board-level tabletop scenarios, help organisations improve readiness, expose weaknesses and build confidence before a real incident occurs.
Learn from attacks without chasing headlines
Rather than changing strategy after every public cyber attack, organisations should assess threats through the lens of their own business risks and continue focusing on strong cybersecurity fundamentals.
Build a culture where cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility
Security awareness, leadership support and embedding cybersecurity into everyday business processes are essential for creating long-term cyber resilience.
Diversity strengthens cybersecurity teams
High-performing security teams benefit from diverse perspectives, experiences and ways of thinking, enabling better collaboration and more effective incident response.
