What is required to do in case a data breach incident occurs?

Data has yet become one of the most valuable asset. Foreseeable, data related incidents occur very often. It is of crucial importance for companies to be adequately prepared to mitigate the risks of data breaches and leaks incidents occurrence, but at the same time to have an incident response plan in place to be able to react quickly in case an incident somehow occurs.

The problem of data breaches and data leaks is indisputably a critical one. This fact may be illustrated with the fact that regulators develop and adopt acts, required at management of data related processes in terms of security. The most well-known act is, probably, the GDPR, however, there are numerous others as well. Various acts require taking adequate protective measures for preventing dangerous data related incidents. Compliance with the requirements significantly reduces the risk of incidents occurrence and also helps to avoid imposture of fines. 

However, what is required to do if a data breach incident somehow takes place? Quite often regulators publish requirements, which, for instance, oblige to notify affected parties and supervisory authority competent, as well as to implement other adequate measure. We recommend to make sure your organization complies with all the authorities in charge requirements, as there may be many other important and strictly mandatory measures.

Why is it so important to report data breaches?

Personal data breaches can result in physical, material or non-material harm to individuals if not addressed in a timely and appropriate manner. Among these possible harms, the GDPR includes, for example, discrimination against individuals, identity theft or fraud, financial loss, damage to reputation and other significant economic or social harm to the individuals concerned.

That is why it is punishable as a misdemeanor if an organization fails to report a breach or notify affected parties despite the obligation to do so.

Besides the risks, posed to individuals (employees, clients, etc.) described above, there is one more issue concerning organizations and companies. Data privacy violations often result in high fines, which companies have to pay. For instance, in 2019 France’s data protection watchdog fined Alphabet’s Google 50 million euros ($57 million) for breaching European Union online privacy rules. Because of the fact, that the amount of data related incidents is growing steadily, the following tendency is expected - the supervisory authorities will continue to impose high fines on organizations, which become the culprit of a data leak.

The best option is to put the protection measures in place, for instance, deploy advanced protective software and increase the employees awareness in information security related issues. But it is required to be prepared and know what to do in case an incident occurs.

To prevent data leakages it's high time you controled all data channels .