The Role of Crisis Communications in Cybersecurity

The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the role of crisis communications in cybersecurity as data breaches will become more prominent over the coming years. Therefore, it aims to provide a framework for best practices in cyber crisis response and communications plans, as well as the main crisis response strategies that should be used. Situational Crisis Communications Theory (SCCT) and Image Repair Theory (IRT) are used for this study to analyze the data and to determine the connection between theoretical frameworks and current ways of crisis response strategies. Additionally, interviews and case studies are two primary methods arising from secondary research. The research questions aim to investigate the present use and best practices for crisis response strategies in cyber crisis communications plans, the importance of transparency, and the impact of digitalization on cyber crisis communicators. Keywords: crisis communications, crisis response, data breach, cybersecurity, public relations, incident response, corporate communications, situational crisis communications theory, image repair theory, and COVID-19