Small personal data breaches are unfortunately too common and can adversely impact staff and students at the University as much as the very large data breaches which make the national news.
As seen in the Information Security training, many of these smaller personal data breaches arise from simple human errors rather than complex cyberattacks.
As employees of the University, some of you may deal with staff or student personal data on a daily basis. Small changes to the way we work can help reduce the likelihood of us accidentally losing control of the personal data we process.
Poor email management was the cause of half of all personal data breaches at the University in 2022. By following the following five recommendations, the University could reduce personal data breaches by 50%:
- Whilst Auto-Complete in Outlook speeds up sending emails, consider clearing the Outlook Auto-Complete cache every couple of months to remove older, infrequently used email addresses
- Where possible, avoid sending any personal data or confidential information by email, instead share the file using OneDrive or MS Teams with specific colleagues only
- When replying to an email, consider if you need to reply to everyone, the whole mailing list/group, or just a specific individual
- Pause before sending an email to check the recipient lists or defer delivery of all emails by 10 minutes
- Make sure you are familiar with our guidance on sending emails safely.
When a data breach occurs, it is vital that our Data Protection team is informed as soon as possible so we can work with you to reduce the impact on individuals. Find out how to report a data breach.