Cybersecurity breaches have rapidly become a high-impact crisis for many corporations. Thus, it is critically important for corporations to know how to protect their reputation through effective crisis communication. Considering the scarcity of empirical research on cybersecurity breaches in crisis communication, the current study attempts to fill this research gap. This study compared 108 official statements issued by organizations in the United States and South Korea when cybersecurity breaches threatened the reputations of various corporations. The characteristics of an apology (responsibility admittance, sympathetic expression, reassurance, compensation) and other features of crisis response (use of excuses, functions of apology, and organizational representation) were examined. This study found that the features of the official statements differed by cultural dimension (individualism vs. collectivism, small vs. large power distance) and by communication style (low-context vs. high-context communication).

Cybersecurity Breach and Crisis Response: An Analysis of Organizations’ Official Statements in the United States and South Korea