Communicating Critical Security Research Through Widespread Coverage
Overview
Lookout, Inc. is a data-centric cloud security company that uses a defense-in-depth strategy to address the different stages of a modern cybersecurity attack.
The Challenge
Overview
Recognizing the magnitude of the research, the dream of an exclusive with The New York Times was born. But ICR Technology’s goals and objectives for this caliber of research ranged far beyond the holy grail of press coverage – our coverage needed to be widespread, thoughtful, and impactful.
Around this timeframe the U.S. was beginning to recognize more and more the impact of COVID-19. ICR Technology shifted operations to fully remote work, as did Lookout. That change compiled with ICR Technology being new to Lookout’s operations and the need to earn the research team’s trust were critical turning points in the execution of the New York Times exclusive and all other embargo outreach.
Highlights
Media outlets:
The New York Times
Public Radio International
MSN
Forbes
Fox News
Cyberscoop
Tom’s Guide
SC Magazine
Security Magazine
ITWire
ZDNet
our Strategy
The researchers had been working tirelessly on this discovery for nearly a year and as any PR team knows, it is difficult to explain the benefits of exclusive outreach because quantity is often flashier than quality. The researchers were also hesitant to factor in the time it would take to generate a feature exclusive, which we warned would take several weeks of planning and conversations with the New York Times’ key reporters – and this was after we received their interest (which could also take weeks to secure).
Lookout’s biggest concern was getting scooped by another research team but after several conversations, we were able to convince them of our plan and we begin exclusive outreach to the NYT in May. ICR Technology’s key learnings throughout this exercise were the importance of creating the right media strategy for the outcome the client would like to achieve, while being persistent and transparent.
RESULTS
Interviews began with The New York Times’ Nicole Perlroth and Paul Mozur in June and their exclusive ran on July 1. A week prior to this, ICR Technology also conducted embargo outreach out to trusted media contacts so the news could be covered by outside publications once the exclusive rights lifted with the NYT.
Following the original write-up by Nicole Perlroth and Paul Mozur, The New York Times editorial board cited the research in its piece arguing that the president should take more robust actions to pressure China.
The World, a popular program on the widely syndicated radio content network Public Radio International, cited the Lookout research as well. The online version of their segment was syndicated to MSN. Simon Chandler also wrote an article on the topic for Forbes.
The research was also the subject of a feature article from Caitlin McFall of Fox News, as well as a similar piece published in The Times of India. Caitlin’s article was syndicated to MSN.
Prominent cybersecurity trade publications picked up the story as well. Lindsey O’Donnell published a feature on Threatpost, as did Sean Lyngass of CyberScoop and Nicholas Fearn of Tom’s Guide. In the days immediately following the New York Times piece, more trade publications covered the research, including Bradley Barth with SC Magazine, Maria Henriquez with Security Magazine, Sam Varghese with ITWire, and Catalin Cimpanu with ZDNet, all of whom published feature coverage.
The SilkBean research was also included in a number of newsletters, especially during the first week after its publication. Ravie Lakshmanan referenced it in the Pardon the Intrusion newsletter from The Next Web. The CyberWire included the research in their end-of-week Focus Briefing.
In addition to the highlights listed above, the research was published in numerous other outlets spanning local news stations, targeted online publications, and outlets focusing on industry verticals.