Could One Employee Mistake Create A Serious Problem?
Most information incidents are not caused by malicious insiders or cyber attacks. They are caused by ordinary employees making ordinary mistakes - an email to the wrong address, a file shared with the wrong person, a document forwarded without thinking.
"An HR administrator is emailing annual performance review documents to line managers on the last afternoon before a long weekend. She types a name, clicks the first auto-suggested email address, and sends. The performance review - including salary and a medical leave history - lands in the inbox of a junior staff member in a different department. She only discovers the mistake when the recipient replies."
Accidental disclosure through email - commonly called a misdirected email incident - is the most frequently reported data breach type in most jurisdictions. Under POPIA, the Responsible Party must notify the Information Regulator and the affected data subject when there is a reasonable belief that personal information has been accessed by an unauthorised person. The threshold is 'reasonable belief' rather than certainty - a suspected misdirected email containing personal information may trigger a notification obligation. Email data loss prevention (DLP) rules that detect personal information patterns such as ID numbers, salary figures and medical terms in outgoing email are the primary technical control in this category. Most enterprise email platforms include basic DLP capabilities that require configuration rather than additional purchase.
ComplyBar helps businesses identify hidden risks in how information, AI tools, email, documents and cloud systems are used.
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