A small project management firm got hit with ransomware last week. Standard stuff—files encrypted, ransom demanded. But instead of communicating with customers, they went silent. No emails. No social posts. Not even a banner on their site. Just… vanished.

This is every IT team’s nightmare. But it’s made worse by the instinct to hide.

When something goes wrong, say so. Fast. Even if you don’t have all the answers. People will forgive downtime. They won’t forgive silence.

If you haven’t already, draft your breach response playbook. Include customer messaging. Practice it. Because when the fire hits, the way you respond will matter more than the hack itself.