A Data Privacy Nightmare Caused by a Simple Mistake

As an agency that connects freelancers with clients in various fields such as finance, audit, risk and control and data, we have witnessed many instances of data breaches and privacy violations. But one of them stands out as the most shocking and embarrassing one we have ever encountered.

It happened in a company we used to work for, where an HR manager wanted to share some statistics about the employees with all the managers in the company. He created a pivot table based on all employees' data, which included sensitive information such as salary, bonus percentage, address, position name, and so on. He then used the pivot table to create some KPIs and copied them to a new Excel file. He then sent this file to all the managers.

What he didn't realize was that the pivot table still contained all the original data as well. This meant that anyone who opened the file could access the personal information of every employee in the company by simply double-clicking on the pivot table cells.

Some of the recipients noticed this and quickly informed the HR manager. He tried to recall the email, but it was too late. The damage was done. The managers could now see how much their colleagues and subordinates were earning and compare themselves with others. This created a lot of dissatisfaction, jealousy, and mistrust among the staff. Some of them even threatened to sue the company for violating their privacy rights.

This story illustrates how a simple mistake can lead to a data privacy nightmare. It also shows how important it is to be careful and vigilant when handling personal data. You never know who might see it or what they might do with it. So always check your work before sending it out and use encryption or password protection when necessary.

A strong process with controls is key to preventing this type of mistake. No in house specialists to help you with this challenge? Proceos might be able to help you!