Patients lose care. Communities lose trust.

Staff work through exhaustion. Responders face burnout and blame. Yet, behind every breach is also courage, resolve, and recovery.

When cyberattacks hit, the damage is not just digital. It is personal.

Have you been affected by a cyber incident?

Are you defending lifeline services?

Share your story and change the narrative on cyber resilience.

Your experience can help others prepare, respond, and adapt.

Tell your story

  • “When a school district suffers a cyberattack, it’s not just data that’s compromised. Ransomware disruptions mean schools can’t serve students with disabilities, they can’t feed children breakfast, and in some cases, they can’t even unlock classroom doors. Sharing these stories connects policymakers to the daily reality and helps us build the support infrastructure that schools need to keep students safe and learning.”

    Michael Klein

    Senior Director for Preparedness and Response, Institute for Security and Technology

  • “There’s a risk that any discussion about cybersecurity becomes a technical one, and when that happens, we tend to delegate it as an issue to technical people. In truth, healthcare attacks impact real people and speaking to them—victims and frontline responders, support staff, and loved ones—is the only way we can really begin to understand what's at stake.”

    Alexander Martin

    UK Editor, The Record

  • “Through my academic research and work in humanitarian settings, I came to understand how cyber operations can affect vulnerable populations, particularly during armed conflict. Such operations may transcend borders and their consequences are felt in hospitals, homes, and everyday civilian life. This underscores the need for legal frameworks, such as international humanitarian law, that prevent and mitigate human suffering, including in digital contexts.”

    Kubo Mačák

    Professor of International Law, University of Exeter

  • “The energy sector is somewhat unique because the impact on people’s everyday life gets real quite fast: when there’s no fuel at the gas station, society stops, when power fails, everything else comes crumbling down. People die. The stakes are just too high for incomplete reports and speculations. We need to pay attention to real stories and what we can learn from them.”

    Pedro Umbelino

    Principal Security Researcher, BitSight‍

  • “The consequences of cyberattacks extend beyond technical systems and are primarily experienced by individuals. Victims may experience significant psychological distress, financial loss, social stigma, and a diminished sense of self-efficacy. Recognizing these harms is essential for the development of effective cybersecurity policies.”

    Maria Bada

    Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London

  • “For decades, humans have been the principal designers of software, the main developers of tools to hack it, and the primary losers when hacks happen. AI may change the first two of these, but it will still be humans who bear the brunt costs of cyber incidents.”

    Andrew James Grotto

    Director, Stanford Program on Geopolitics, Technology and Governance

  • “On paper, we have frameworks for every stage of a cyber incident. In the real world, those plans often fall apart at the first point of pressure. Listening to the people who have lived through these moments is the only way to understand what resilience actually looks like—and how we can strengthen it.”

    Sven Herpig

    Lead for Cybersecurity Policy and Resilience, Interface

  • “When sectors like healthcare and public services are hit by a cyberattack, it’s not only the infrastructure that suffers. These incidents disrupt lives and put the data of millions at risk year after year. The message shared in the first 48 hours shapes the outcome. How we communicate in response to an attack is a critical component of collective resilience.”

    Lily Williams

    Senior Consultant, FTI Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Communications

  • “Cyber incidents place enormous strain on defenders. Malicious actors often launch attacks right before weekends or during holiday periods, such as Christmas, to maximize disruption. While most people take time off to rest and recharge, those responsible for defending against these incidents must instead intensify their focus and efforts. Gaining a deeper understanding of their experiences will help strengthen the overall cybersecurity ecosystem.”

    Valentin Weber

    Senior Research Fellow, German Council on Foreign Relations

  • “I have prepared and supported large organizations through cyber incidents. The discussion begins with the technical analysis, moves on to the business concern, but always ends with the human impact, which is the most important aspect. Today, I support smaller companies and charities, and I experience the distress firsthand when owners have to deal with a crippling cyber incident that could force them out of business. These stories need to be told.”

    Gaurav Keerthi

    CEO / Knight, StrongKeep

  • “Like many people, I had heard that water utility critical infrastructure in towns and rural areas lacks staff and training in cybersecurity. But once I experienced those realities firsthand, the need to protect these networks became clearer. The basic things that people depend on each day could be disrupted overnight because of vulnerabilities.”

    Tim Pappa

    Volunteer, DefCon Franklin

  • “Cyberattacks don’t just compromise systems—they undermine trust. Every breach has a human story behind it, and sharing those experiences helps us move beyond statistics to understand the real social and economic costs of insecurity. Transparency is how we build resilience.”

    Scott Shackelford

    Associate Vice President & Vice Chancellor for Research, Indiana University

  • “In the water sector, the scale of vulnerability is often overlooked. Without required or resourced basic cyber protections, much of the sector remains underprepared for today’s threats. Firefighting, sanitation, health care, and other critical services could all be part of the downstream effects. This is not a hypothetical risk—it’s a weakness in national security that must be addressed.”

    Gus Serino

    Control Systems Engineer, Water and Wastewater Sector

  • “Cyberattacks don’t target systems, they target organizations and people. When they occur, it’s the teams that pay the emotional price. Shame, guilt, loss of confidence, the psychological triggers are powerful yet underestimated, even neglected. We must take care of people, because they are both the first line of defense and the first victims.”

    Sébastien Garnault

    Founder, Cyber Task Force & Paris Cyber Summit

  • “It’s important to ground people in real stories because what happens in cyberspace can feel distant, faceless, and irrelevant. Ransomware incidents are a losing game, and we need to rethink the rules. Understanding the damage done to real people is the place to start.”

    Maxwell Bevilacqua   

    Founder, Mindful Negotiating

  • “Placing the voices and lived experiences of those affected at the center of cybercrime and cyber resilience is key to understanding cybersecurity not only as a technical, legal, or economic issue, but also as an issue with social, psychological, and physical dimensions.”

    Bassant Hassib

    Assistant Professor, University of London

Our Interview Principles

  • Interviews are conducted with respect for your time, insights, and personal experiences.

  • You may end the interview at any time or skip any question you prefer not to answer.

  • You will always be informed of how your information will be used and where it may appear.

  • Interviews are credited, but you may opt for partial or no attribution. Your preference will always be respected.

  • You will have the opportunity to review any direct quotes before publication.

  • All materials are stored securely and will not be shared without your explicit permission.

  • If any questions cause discomfort, we can pause or change topics.

  • Your voice is valuable, whether you represent mainstream or marginalized perspectives. Your lived experience matters.