You've Been Hacked Now What - By Rick Williams

Follow Rick Williams on LinkedIn

You are the CEO of a regional retail chain based in Chicago. You are starting your early December leadership team meeting preparing for the Christmas season when you realize that your computer systems are down. You quickly learn that your servers have been hacked and you have no access to your data.

Wiley’s Board Leadership Newsletter published my article examining what happened to real company leaders whose computer systems were hacked and paying ransom was the price of recovering their data. After interviewing leaders who had gone through this experience, I wrote the article to tell their stories and to provide guidance for company leaders and their boards of directors on how to prepare for a cyber-attack and what to do when it happens.

Please take moment and check out this video introducing the article.

I am not a cybersecurity expert. My contribution is to bring my experience as a company leader and board of directors member to this leadership challenge. What can and should we – as a board, CEO, and other senior operational leaders – do to prepare for an inevitable cyber-attack. And, what should we do when attacked.

My article was published by Wiley in their premier Board Leadership publication. The article is behind a subscription wall, but you can get a PDF copy from my website. This is a MUST READ cyber-security guidebook with a CEO and board of directors’ point of view. Download the PDF version of the article and distribute it to your team.

Today’s reality is that your company’s IT systems have already been penetrated. You just don’t know about it. Many smaller companies have been forced to close by a cyber-attack. Larger companies often pay ransoms and incur major costs and sometimes reputational damage. Learn from the stories of leaders who had to deal with cyber-attacks that closed down their IT systems. These leaders were forced to negotiate ransom payments.

Get your copy of You Have Been Hacked – Now What? by clicking HERE.

Glacier National Park

I retraced the Lewis and Clark Trail of Discovery a couple of years ago this month starting in Bismark, North Dekota, and ending with my bare feet in the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River. I will spare you from the picture of waves washing over my feet on the Pacific sand beach that I took to prove to my friends that I had gotten there.

When Lewis and Clark started their journey, they did not know the Rocky Mountains even existed. With great difficulty and help from local Indian guides, they crossed the mountain range south of what is now Glacier National Park. I diverted north to see the Park’s magnificent mountains.

Weather systems come onto the continent from the Pacific Ocean and drop most of their moisture as the land elevation rises to the Rocky Mountains. East of the Rockies is a dry plateau with few trees for as far as you can see.

After driving through the mountains with stops to take in the amazing views, I crossed the continental divide and went downhill into the forests west of the Rockies. I captured this image looking back over a lake towards the mountains.

View Rick Williams’ Latest Blog Posts

Return to Blog Listing