Reporting personal data breaches to authorities / data subjects

The organization must document all personal data breaches and their consequences and the corrective actions taken, regardless of the action ultimately resulting from the breach.

Failure to comply with the documentation obligation or notification is contrary to GDPR and may lead to sanctions defined on the regulation.

A personal data breach must be reported to the supervisory authority if the breach may pose a risk to data subjects rights and freedoms. Data subjects, on the other hand, must be informed if the breach is likely to pose a high risk to their rights and freedoms. For example, registrants may take steps to reduce the adverse effect (e.g. by closing their credit card).

The notification must include the following information:

• a clear description of the personal data breach
• the name and contact details of the data protection officer or other contact point from which further information can be obtained
• the likely consequences of the personal data breach
• the measures proposed or already taken by the controller; where appropriate, measures to mitigate possible adverse effects.

The organization shall define the procedures for reporting security breaches in the supply chain. The process must take into account all kinds of roles in the supply chain, whether we are the customer of the end product or one supplier in the chain.

Policies shall take into account agreements with partners and customers and their commitments regarding the reporting obligations of both parties.

The controller must assess the risk of the personal data breach to the data subjects. The assessment must take into account, for example, the following:

• How likely is it that the data will be used to cause harm?
• What harm could the data be used for (e.g. identity theft, fraud, psychological distress, humiliation or reputational damage)?
• Nature, sensitivity and amount of personal data
• How easy it is to identify the registrant using the data?
• Are there many children or otherwise vulnerable people among the registrants?

The risk assessment affects the urgency and scope of reporting a breach.

Our organization has pre-defined procedures through which the detected security breach will be addressed. The process may include e.g. the following things:

• who are part of a team that is ready to respond to breaches
• how and along what channel the entire team is immediately notified of the breach
• the team determines the severity (low, medium, high) of the breach based on predefined criteria
• the breach management is continued with a larger group according to the severity level