I wanted to write a blog on “The do’s and don’ts of approaching PR during the Covid 19 outbreak” but after hearing the trauma that my niece who is a psychiatrist in London’s largest children’s hospital and her boyfriend who is working in A&E on the frontline are feeling, it seems pretty superficial and banal. The guys in the healthcare service are being pummelled every day, they are exhausted, shell shocked and totally selfless with no means of defending themselves against this ghastly virus and they know it but are bravely soldering on. The guys at the supermarket and chemists are exhausted too, the cleaners who can’t afford to stay away from work and have to get on public transport and all the wonderful people keeping public transport moving. How on earth can I write a blog about PR in Cybersecurity? My job, our jobs are so futile in comparison! Myself and our staff are truly blessed and so damned privileged as we all watch this outbreak from the safety of our homes, with our shiny computers and Zoom accounts and safe monthly salaries and advanced loans so that our staff are secure over the next few months – all so sheltered from the casualties and tragedies that my poor niece and her traumatised medic friends are seeing from the frontlines many of whom will suffer from PTSD for many years to come. And all those sad sad people who have been laid off scrambling to find the money to live and fend for their families.
I could go on but that’s not what you’re here for, you’d not bother continue reading, so for what it’s worth this is my advice on how to approach PR during the Corona Virus outbreak!
– Don’t put anything out around the Corona virus unless it’s about you offering your product for free or it’s genuine practical advice about security wellbeing such as tips on securely working from home etc.
– If you have genuine research about hacking scams or anomalies etc the press are very keen to make audiences aware.
– We all know the big “C” is what’s making headlines and fuelling the media so although many journalists are feeling conflicted about writing about it, it’s their jobs to do so, so they are still reaching out to us requesting insightful, helpful, advisory pieces that are certainly not profit driven or self promoting!
As everyone adjusts to working from home its imperative people work securely and it’s been wonderful to see so many of our clients make their software free to enable this!
For those of us privileged enough to be cosseted in the Cybersecurity industry we are some what protected from the free fall around us, however I’m under no illusions we’re all going to suffer from a downturn in business. I hope like me you are feeling very very grateful to be part of this industry and will never ever forget how truly lucky and privileged we all are, to be doing the jobs we do!
