Playbook for Incident Response to Extortion or Blackmail

Action Steps for Action Steps

The Crisis Management Team within your organisation should:

Consider advising the appropriate law enforcement agencies and regulators.
Consider making a holding reply to gain.
Obtain information on the person/ organization making the demand, if possible.
Assess the credibility of the demand and the feasibility of the perpetrators being able to carry out their threats within any time scale set.

While making the assessment:

Do not respond further to the initial approach
Improve security/protection of the assets being threatened
Prepare for further approaches
Consider the following options:

Payment

Full demand or negotiated settlement, but remember that you may have to violate regulatory and organisational policy, and there is a "punishment" or consequence when this step is taken.

Resist

refuse to pay, leave the threatened assets/area, or allow the attack to take place and security reaction to take its course

Remove

appear to negotiate while organizing an arrest operation with law enforcement agencies.

In extortion situations, tight security must be maintained in all aspects of planning and when deciding policy and intention.

More Information About Crisis Management Courses

To learn more about the course and schedule, click the buttons below for the CM-300 Crisis Management Implementer [CM-3] and the CM-5000 Crisis Management Expert Implementer [CM-5].