In a dark corporate command center, a phone rings, and the room goes silent. Yijin Ruan picks up. On the other end of the line is a reporter for a digital technology website claiming that customer and employee data records connected to banking and investment firm Bane & Ox have been leaked on the internet. The reporter is writing a story that will go live within the hour—and she’s seeking a comment from the company.

On the Bane & Ox side, Ruan (’24) seems nervous, but she asks the reporter to repeat and spell her name, then says she will call her back. Thus begins a flood of incidents into the high-tech command center—resulting in serious blows to the company’s finances and public opinion. The room even lights up red, signaling a full-on crisis. The crisis responders in the room, which include executives from across the company, jump to action. 

This would be a terrifying scenario for any senior leadership team. In this case, however, it’s only a simulation. Bane & Ox is a fictional company being hacked by a made-up cyberterrorism group. And the team charged with leading the company out of the crisis created by the attack is a group of COM students in Amy Shanler’s Managing Corporate Crises (CM 522) class. The simulation is playing out at IBM’s X-Force Cyber Range, a state-of-the-art command center in Cambridge, Mass., typically filled with corporate executives who’ve flown in from around the globe to pressure-test their cybersecurity and business crisis response protocols. IBM has two other ranges besides its Kendall Square flagship: Bangalore, India, and Ottawa, Canada, in partnership with the University of Ottawa. 

Rarely do university classes have the opportunity to go through the simulation, which can last between two and four hours. So when Shanler (CAS’96, COM’96,’04), an associate professor of the practice of public relations, was given the opportunity, she jumped at the chance to put her class through a high-stakes situation—even if it’s only a simulation. 

“An athlete wouldn’t take the field for the first time during the playoffs, and a musician wouldn’t try a new instrument during a live concert,” Shanler says. “A public relations professional shouldn’t try to manage a crisis without having some practice.”

Feeling the Pressure

As Matteo Joaquin Fehoko (’24) walked into IBM’s hulking Kendall Square lobby earlier in the evening, a touch of nervousness came over him. Shanler had intentionally withheld from her students a detailed description of what they would experience. As he proceeded deeper into the simulation facility and “saw how well set up everything was,” Fehoko’s nervousness turned into excitement. “It’s amazing to see how much effort and money is put into training for different business crises,” he says. 

An athlete wouldn’t take the field for the first time during the playoffs, and a musician wouldn’t try a new instrument during a live concert. A public relations professional shouldn’t try to manage a crisis without having some practice.

Amy Shanler

Fehoko is assigned to the communications team during the simulation, responsible for crafting the messaging that would go out to Bane & Ox’s customers, employees and the news media. Fehoko and fellow communications team member Mia Chai (’25) take a draft of their message to students on the legal team for approval. Chai, who was appointed Bane & Ox’s chief communications officer, then takes the high-level points of the message into an on-camera news interview in a separate room. A fictitious anchor peppers her with questions about how the firm could allow such a breach, and how it will now protect the data of scores of angry customers. Chai, who is interested in pursuing a career in financial communications or investor relations, appears unflappable.

“I felt the weight of having to represent and be the voice of a company going through a crisis,” Chai says of her first on-camera interview. “I was very conscientious of my word choice, tone and facial expressions and was less nervous than I anticipated.” 

Training Better Crisis Managers

Shanler has held lower-tech simulations in other classes, but says she plans to ask IBM if she can bring students back to the Cyber Range—which she says allows students to apply what she teaches them in class and tests their communication, patience and collaboration skills. “IBM was an incredible partner. They met our class where we were by adapting the simulation to our learning objectives,” she adds. “I hope to have this opportunity to work with IBM again.”

Two hours after the reporter’s phone call, the simulation scenario ends and students share their takeaways: the importance of a company developing a crisis management plan before it’s in a crisis; of confidence, calmness and cautiousness when speaking with a reporter; of better training for employees. Several days afterward, Chai reflects that she was surprised how many seemingly unrelated issues can arise from a central crisis like a data breach, and “the pace at which you have to make life-changing decisions that could potentially bankrupt the business.”

Fehoko, who had appeared particularly calm and decisive during the simulation, says he learned it takes a certain type of person to do crisis management: “quick-thinking, well-prepared and cannot freeze like a deer in the headlights if something goes wrong.” 

After the IBM simulation, he thinks he’s that kind of person: He says he’s now interested in a career in crisis PR.