In an age of digital transformation, it may sound old-fashioned, but the latest government advice to UK businesses is clear: keep a pen and paper backup plan. Just last month, airlines around the world were forced to check in passengers manually after a cyber-attack took key systems offline.
And last year, London NHS hospitals had to resurrect paper record systems, with porters hand-delivering blood test results when IT networks went dark. It’s a reminder that even the most tech-enabled organisations need an analogue safety net. According to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the UK is now experiencing an average of four nationally significant cyber incidents every week, a number that continues to climb. NCSC’s Chief Executive, Richard Horne, warns that “Organisations need to have a plan for how they would continue to operate without their IT and rebuild that IT at pace where an attack could get through.”
Recently, we’ve seen the cost of cyber chaos first-hand with high-profile cases such as Marks & Spencer and Jaguar Land Rover both suffering production and supply chain disruption following cyber incidents, resulting in empty shelves, production lines being halted and millions in losses. The NCSC is now urging leaders to move beyond traditional cyber defences and embrace a broader approach known as “resilience engineering”, designing systems that can anticipate, absorb, recover, and adapt.
That includes maintaining offline, physical copies of crisis plans, and preparing clear processes for analogue communication, such as phone trees or in-person briefings, should email or messaging apps fail. For executives, communications teams, and spokespeople, resilience isn’t just about IT recovery; it’s about clear leadership under pressure.
At PA Media Academy, our Crisis Communications Training helps leaders plan, rehearse, and communicate effectively even when the systems go down. In today’s fast-moving digital environment, it’s easy to assume that every crisis plan lives safely in the cloud or that an online dashboard will guide the response. But when the systems go down, whether through a cyber-attack, power outage, or network disruption, it’s preparation, not panic, that makes the difference.
Our programme helps leaders plan, rehearse, and communicate under pressure, ensuring decision-making remains calm, coordinated, and credible across every channel. Because when the next cyber incident strikes, your ability to lead with composure and deliver clear, trusted information won’t depend on an app or an inbox; it may depend on what’s written in that paper folder beside your desk.
