NEW YORK—International public relations firm Zing has co-created a new tool that helps companies model the potential costs of crisis communications counsel and services related to the disclosure of sensitive or protected information.

Zing’s US president and CEO Robert McEwen, working in tandem with attorneys, insurers and underwriters, created the new tool for NetDiligence, a leading cyber risk assessment and data breach services company. It will be part of the company’s eRisk Hub portal, which helps companies prepare for and estimate the costs of managing data breaches.

“An ever higher percentage of corporate crises involve incidents in which accident, negligence or malice results in the unauthorized public disclosure of credit card information, social security numbers, and protected health information,” McEwen said.

The tool itself consists of 12 questions about the type of data, number of records compromised, cause of the breach, internal communications resources and degree of preparedness for such an emergency. Algorithms translate answers to these questions into dollar figures so clients can estimate costs their costs in advance.