Speaker: Ffion Flockhart

Ransomware remains a fast-moving and highly disruptive threat, illustrated by a number of recent attacks on household-name organisations in the UK. This seminar will outline today’s ransomware threat landscape, then walk through how a typical incident plays out from initial compromise and escalation, through containment, investigation, and recovery. It will examine how organisations respond across different business areas, including engagement with insurers, authorities, and regulators, and the practical challenges of restoring services while managing uncertainty and reputational risk.

The session will also focus on board roles and responsibilities during a ransomware incident and outline how oversight should function under pressure and what good preparedness looks like before a crisis hits. Finally, it will discuss how to communicate ransomware risk to senior stakeholders for maximum impact by translating technical realities into business consequences.

About the speaker

Ffion Flockhart is a Partner and Global Co-Head of Cybersecurity at A&O Shearman. She specialises in cyber risk management and coordinates the global crisis response team to help clients manage and mitigate the impact of adverse cyber incidents.

Ffion has overseen hundreds of incident responses, including some of the largest cyber incidents for multinational clients. Her work comprises overseeing forensic investigations, liaising with government authorities, dealing with notification requirements, liaising with regulators, advising on the interaction with commercial counterparties, as well as helping to defend related group litigation. She has extensive connections within the forensics, intelligence and broader cybersecurity community, helping to ensure that her advice is always current, practical and takes account of the latest threat intelligence, which is of critical importance in an ever-evolving threat landscape. Ffion is recognised as a Justice and Cybersecurity Expert by the World Economic Forum and has consulted with the UK Government’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy on its inquiry into ransomware. She is included in Cybersecurity Docket’s Incident Response 50, which identifies the 50 best data breach response lawyers globally (one of five non-US partners).