Introduction

A data breach is when a sensitive or confidential piece of information/data is illegally accessed by a third party or leaks without the owner’s permission. A data breach can very well occur if enterprises fail to deploy adequate protective measures and cybersecurity. It leads to a further string of problems in regards to protecting privacy. Data breaches can also occur because of human errors such as keeping their computers logged in after working hours, falling prey to a phishing attack, or sending private data to a third-party vendor.

To avoid such data breaches, the enterprise must provide adequate induction training to their employees to integrate best practices at work. Regardless, when a data breach becomes familiar with the IT department of the enterprise, it must be reported, irrespective of how significant it is. This is where notifiable data breaches come into action.

How do Notifiable Data Breaches work?

When enterprises face data breaches, in some cases, it may also involve sensitive data which belongs to third parties such as clients/customers/partners, which jeopardizes their safety and privacy as well. In such situations, it is only morally and legally correct for the companies to inform such third parties if their data is breached. Governments employ notifiable data breach schemes, which force enterprises to sign a contract to provide complete transparency upon using third-party sensitive information. If it becomes affected, the enterprise must take accountability and inform them. This forces the firms to be more careful with external confidential information and their data by implementing several layers of security, MFA, and privilege creep policies that restrict unlimited access to all enterprise resources.

Example

For example, an e-commerce enterprise falls victim to a cyberattack. It loses private information about its buyers and their card credentials, which become available on an external server or even the dark web. In such a situation, the e-commerce enterprise must provide adequate information about this occurrence to their customers. They must also complete all the procedures to comply with the notifiable data breach scheme by paying a penalty fee and taking responsibility for this occurrence.