Perhaps customer data has been breached, or perhaps the front page of their Web site has been defaced or perhaps there's been a threatening e-mail from hackers warning their very Web presence is in jeopardy if they don't pay a ransom.
The problems are different but the underlying issue is the same - what the company says and does in the next 24 hours will communicate to customers, the industry and the media exactly what kind of business they are. The clock is ticking and the next 24 hours could make or break their business.
That statement is far from exaggeration.
Special Agent Ed Gibson of the FBI and assistant legal attaché to the US Embassy in London said: "Companies survive on their reputation."
Upon realising there is a crisis afoot companies must instantly address how they are going to deal with it, not just in terms of rectifying the issue from a technical perspective but in terms of who they tell, how they tell them and what the consequences may be.
"Their first thought may be 'what's this going to do to our stock price'," said Gibson but is there anything to be said for brushing hacks and attacks under the carpet?
Martin Langford, the self-styled 'Master of Disaster', has handled more than 350 crises worldwide in all manner of sectors in his role at PR agency Kissman Langford and believes skeletons tend not to remain in the closet for very long.
"I absolutely guarantee there is no such thing as a rumbling crisis within an organisation that will not make it into the outside world," he said.
And if the press get a sniff of a story, don't even think about pulling the 'no comment' stunt.
