OUCH!, the security awareness newsletter from the SANS Institute, covers the basics of encryption in its August edition. OUCH! is the world’s leading, free security awareness newsletter designed for the common computer user. It is available in multiple languages.
Check prior editions for information on email security, malware, safe social networking, and many other topics relevant to professionals and Internet users.
SANS is one of the world’s leading sources for information security training and security certification. It also develops, maintains, and makes available at no cost, the largest collection of research documents about various aspects of information security, and it operates the Internet’s early warning system – the Internet Storm Center. Other free SANS resources include the weekly news digest (NewsBites), the weekly vulnerability digest (@RISK), and more than 1,200 award-winning, original information security research papers.
Online reputation management (ORM) is commonly thought of as the way to remove negative commentary. But it is far more than that. This list provides many examples of how and why online reputation management is utilized. It also includes examples of some of the crises we have responded to with ORM:
– To create a strong online presence that acts as a protective barrier against third-party content, including anonymous and defamatory content.
– To remove home addresses, ages and related personal information from online databases, which often continuously scour the Internet to populate themselves.
– To replace old, unflattering photographs or caricatures and doctored images with new photographs. When the old images are cached or can’t be removed for some other reason, we minimize their prominence in searches.
– To ensure that factual, credible reference material is readily available online, minimizing the chance that fraudulent information will impact a brand.
– To provide insurance that your story is told by you and not by former partners or other biased parties.
– To rebrand Millennials when they enter the professional arena and Boomers when they reinvent themselves.
– To establish a reputation within a particular area of expertise on multiple online platforms.
– To create an online legacy for a VIP who is preparing for retirement or to exit a company or organization.
– To pair content with the most up-to-date SEO strategies to maximize its impact—keeping in mind that the quality of the content is the most important factor Google and most other major search engines now consider.
– To monitor social media and online forums for red flags signaling potential on- and off-line threats against high-profile individuals.
– To ensure up-to-date and accurate information dominates search results for an organization or individual’s name.
These are examples of some of the crises Reputation Communications has successfully mitigated using online reputation management:
– Emails and internal company documents were leaked and published online by inside sources.
– Online defamation campaigns—against both an organization and its key executives—organized by anonymous operators.
– Impersonation of prominent executives on social media and other online platforms.
– Long-resolved controversies were still commanding prominent placement in searches of an organization’s name.
Today, Business Insurance published an article about how global expansion adds to companies’ reputational risks.
I was interviewed for the piece. An excerpt:
“While the speed at which information can travel through social media can enhance reputation risk, social media can be a valuable tool in managing reputation risks, said Shannon M. Wilkinson, CEO of Reputation Communications in New York. Social media audits can provide important information before a company enters a market, she said.
“Social media provides a barometer into all those kinds of things,” she said. “It can be done quickly. It can be done cheaply.”
Such social media research can provide information on perceptions of products, companies or marketing campaigns, as well as an opportunity to learn from competitors’ experiences, Ms. Wilkinson said.
“They can go to Twitter and they can see what their peer group’s doing,” she said. “It’s a very good way of observing best and worst practices.”
It also can provide information on whether signing a particular celebrity spokesperson might be a big reputation risk mistake.
“He might be a face for a different kind of product, but not in this area,” Ms. Wilkinson said. “All of this is researchable and it’s not so much about making a judgment; it’s about determining what is the most appropriate affiliation for your company or your product launch.”
As the world’s problems become more pressing, protesting unfair practices and helping raise money and visibility for important causes are increasingly important.
Change.org is an online petition platform that empowers anyone to start, join and win campaigns for social change by providing the tools to start, circulate, promote and effect change.
Change.org is a for-profit organization. It works with over 1000 of the largest organizations in the world and is organized around more than a dozen leading cause-based communities. They range from environmental issues and women’s rights to animal welfare. One of them might be well-suited for an issue you care about.
If you are a CEO, it is important to understand how and why a change.org petition might one day focus on your decisions – and your company.
