Help - data breach

[Holdupman]

I have accidentally emailed some very sensitive information outside of the company this was a complete accident
but it’s so sensitive
I tried to recall but this won’t be successful outside of the company
please help will I get the sack

Contact your manager and IT immediately. The quicker you sort this out, the better it will look on you.

Depends what it actually was who do you work for? Keep my fingers crossed that you don’t get in to much trouble, I’d probably let boss know rather than someone else saying

I feel physically sick will I get the sack

You shouldn't get the sack if it's your first offence and the reason was carelessness as opposed to malicious intent. You should be contacting your manager though not posting on Mumsnet. Integrity and honesty are considered when they examine your breach so the best thing to do is own up asap and face the music.

Do you have a data control manager? There a term for the role to report this stuff to in my organisation, but I can't remember it!

You need to come clean to your line manager asap. Trying to cover up your mistake will look really bad.

You will definitely get the sack if you don’t own up at once.

Do you have a GDPR guardian at work ?

Come clean, report and think about how you'll prevent this happening again and tell your manager this.

It happens, it shouldn't be a sacking offence by any means (not an expert though). Offer to take the GDPR training again.

Tell your manager and there should be an internal data breach form or something you can fill out. If it’s the first time you’ve done anything like this then they’re unlikely to sack you

I reported immediately
I’m worried will get the sack

Good that you reported immediately, that helps

It will depend on what the information was and what effect the leak will have on the company - financial, reputation etc.

Some specific things are covered under gross misconduct but not all

You must be worried sick; it's a horrible feeling when it's a genuine mistake but you can't undo it

What industry and how long have you worked there? Did they say they would get back to you?

Nobody here can tell you whether you'll lose your job.

You need to request a meeting with your manager first thing and speak to them in person IMO.

Was it auto-complete on email?

So easy to happen.
Nothing you can do now. It depends on the contents of whether it will need to be reported but I guess internally, it depends on who it was emailed to and what the contents were as to what will happen.

I've data breached so have 2 colleagues. We're still employed.

The most important thing to is fess up.

A genuine accident like this would not be a sacking offence at my firm. How long have you worked there?

How can anyone here help?

And if you’ve worked there less than 2 years then you have no protection at all (barring discriminatory reasons, of course) so they could sack you for anything.

Is it private or public sector? Report it to your line manager/information officer immediately. They will take human error in to consideration. Did you email it to a client or another organisation? Try not to panic @Holdupman

Yes it was auto
was highly sensitive information about a person

Is it something like social services? Because that's where I work and accidental breaches are non uncommon. Suspect you'll be fine but given mandatory e learning.

For goodness sake this. There is no point repeatedly asking a load of random people on the Internet if your company are going to sack you, who don't even know what company it is!

The first thing you should have done was to contact said company and the IT department, not hit Mumsnet

Read the updates people - the first thing she did was to report it, that's been done!

Suspect OP just wants to talk about possibilities whilst she is in the horrible waiting to find out time

As others mentioned, tell your line manager ASAP, they’ll likely have to report to the ICO to investigate. It’s unlikely you’ll lose your job if it was a genuine mistake

The data protection team will want to look at the reasons it happened and the potential safeguards in place to reduce / prevent the risk of that happening again.

Unfortunately it's all too easy for email to autocomplete and for people to be in a rush or just not looking and to press send.

Recall can work - depending on the system and the time it takes for someone to realise - but it's not always effective.

I have never disciplined anyone for accidental breaches, let alone sacked them. I don't want to create an environment where staff feel that they need to cover stuff up when it happens.

My main focus when stuff like this happens is a) how to limit any potential damage, b) who needs to know about it (e.g. the data subject, is it reportable to the ICO etc) and c) what was it about our processes that allowed the breach to happen and what can we put in place in future to stop this from happening again.

Accidents and errors happen. Most reasonable employers know this. Unless you were failing to follow agreed procedures, I think it's unlikely that you will be in trouble.

I'm sorry you have this fear. Unfortunately no one knows how your company will respond.

You need to speak to your manager.