can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information

Regardless of what the coworker did, ideally we want to nudge OP toward exercising greater impulse control and discretion if OP wants to have a successful career in the same sector/field. If there were excetions, that would be explicitly stated. Trying to tell the OP otherwise is to minimize the impact of a serious offense. This reminds me of the story of the Apple employee who left a prototype iPhone in a bar by mistake, before the official release. This has to be, and often is, done formally, with agreements to give something secret in advance so the journalist can prep a story for later, when its OK to share. Yes, this is the valuable lesson about how precarious trust is and how breaking it can have swift painful consequences! Right. Best of luck in your next job! They have absolutely no obligation to keep secrets for government agencies or private companies. Don't say "I was escorted out by armed guards" where you can say "My manager was disappointed enough to let me go". How exciting! and I started reading the details from the email out loud to him. The amount that LW trusted that friend is a small fraction of how much the government trusted LW. Was the friend a journalist, or is there something else that would explain why she said that? The reply: Yes, the friend I texted happened to be a journalist but doesnt cover the area that I was working in. When we make mistakes, they are impactful, but we're human and it happens. I wouldnt be surprised if there was a state or federal regulation that she violated by sharing that information. It was bananas. Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. A while back I had a coworker/friend who created a memo, for our company A, all based on publicly available information, along with suggestions and comments by the coworker. Not generational, just a young person thing. > On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust.. Per my story above, when I made the mistake that I was fired for, I did take responsibility at the time, and they fired me anyway. See Rule 1.2 (d). This friend understood the gravity of the information I told her, and I 100% trusted her to not leak it. Ive worked in the banking industry for a couple decades and this would be a fireable offense on the first instance, no ifs, ands, or buts. Then whenever you send a message, you'll be given an option to "Cancel" at the top of the message before it's sent. 100%? Another public sector worker here. I empathize I LOVE being a person who is in the know and I can be impulsive. The details dont really matter. A true 100% owning of what you did. You need to be ready to show that you understand that you have responsibility to understand and comply with policy, and that you're willing to do that. If you need to share with the boss do so. They got caught. I didnt agree with it myself, and knew that it wasnt really possible without raising a lot of money, something my organization just isnt that good at doing. Its not a victimless crime and you have to understand the seriousness of what you did, even unintentionally. Of course, it wasnt your mistake and youre under no legal obligation to do anything at all. But I now realize that I had no business sharing my bad behavior with colleagues it put them into a completely untenable position. A person who is aware of a breach is required to report it. Its to LWs friends credit that she didnt pass on the info to a journalistic colleague who DOES work in that area; its not to LWs credit. Is it FOUO though? Thank you it was getting boring to read everyones outrage. I work for a charity that offers a telephone service nationwide, and I take a lot of calls from people in quite distressing situations. Request a personalized demo to see how Egress Prevent will help you prevent data breaches over email. Like I said, very strange but its worked for me. Sometimes I see stuff that is cool to nerds of that particular field, but 95% of my Secret Information from clients is not even interesting to them. Instead, you gossiped about it and risked an announcement before things were ready. I used to work for Marvel Studios. While it didnt result in any press, it was obviously a major lapse in judgment and I understand why it resulted in my termination. Taking a quick peek at someones medical records just out of curiosity? I would have serious questions about your judgment if I found out you told any reporter about something that was confidential. But at that very moment, I was in a personal email back-and-forth with another female coworker. All we know is that OP made a disclosure, and the coworker is aware the disclosure happened via Slack. Thats just not something you can let yourself do. I think it helps that you told your coworker. This is incredibly condescending. Yeah, I think CA meant, the message was only sent to the friend/journalist, but you dont know where she opened it: if shes in an open newsroom or something, someone could have seen it on her screen over her shoulder. Keep rewriting what happened in the most factual, dispassionate way possible. I encourage you to get involved with PRSA. I cant say any details yet, but needed to share my excitement!!. Negative emotions are a learning toolfeeling guilty is very uncomfortable, so we dont repeat the behavior that led to the feeling guilty. +1 OP notes that she is a government employee. nsx advanced load balancer documentation; . This is not about a public records requestits about how information is released to the public before that information becomes public. Sometimes their hands are tied too. And that wasnt even technically confidential. And I dont think it helps the OP to say that she doesnt have the right to have feelings of resentment toward the coworker. If someone had been privy to the list of cities prior to the announcement, and leaked it, they would 100% have been fired. No, shes a person with ethics who plays by the rules. OP has been mature about admitting fault, lets not undermine that by implying it was no big deal. Id say forgive that coworker NOWyou put her in a terrible position by being a big blabbering blabbermouth. Perhaps the way you feel (felt?) Besides the stuff that has already been discussed upthread like potential for insider trading, unfair advantage in things like competing for federal contracts or grants, or derailing a communications strategy, one of the biggest reasons to keep work information private is due to counterintelligence concerns. I was fired over the phone. When you accidentally receive a confidential from someone within your own organisation, things are pretty simple. But reasonable minds can certainly differ. I dont think we fired anyone but the need for absolute confidentiality was reiterated. Getting fired sucks. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. I missed the phrase ratted me out in the original message, but given those feelings, it doesnt really count as self-reporting. It was a refreshingly candid answer and so we wound up hiring him. This is so well said. And then there are things you cannot even hint at under any circumstances. I think people are reading defensiveness from the qualifiers probably and suppose. I can sympathize that this is still very raw for OP and perspective will only come with more time. Im not going to tell them about it, unless it actually falls out that I end up being the person who is put in charge of telling them their thing is done. Specifics dont matter, but to me, being able to explain you told your friend your employer was about to buy this farm to build a park so they bought the farm so they could raise the price and make a profit would make a huge difference in terms of making the OP aware of the consequences of their actions. Things worked out this time, so I was right! The hospital I was working for last year had the best of this kind of presentation that Ive ever seen. I wont get into too many details, but where I work had a plan that was controversial and there was both opposition to it, internal and external. If it hasnt worked out yet, it isnt the end. So, thats to say that I *completely* get the idea that at some point, you get to a point where you just really really need to share. journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. I have accidentally terminated people, messed up HRIS changes that prevented people from getting their paycheck, and scanned/sent confidential information to an employee instead of myself. Really? I replaced someone who had embezzled from the (small) company. I work in the auto industry in media communications. I work in communications for a large organization and I see this as a trust issue with leadership. Lack of integrity. If the policy says people who tell information to non authorized individuals must be fired they could have been fired for not firing you. Posting confidential company information, good or bad, is not protected. But according to the LW, the trusted friend would not have blabbed, so if the LW didnt tell the coworker, the company would have never known and everything would be hunky dory. Look the UK Foreign Office is currently knee deep in a police investigation into information thats been leaked to journalists and the consequences are potentially extremely serious. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. LW, we are all human. Take full responsibility. Whilst Im sure the OP is a perfectly nice person, theres a reason that there are office shootings and other awful things, some people are not. If any of those connections were being intercepted by an unknown third party, however, you've just put your customer's data into their hands. As Alison said, its a lot like DUI; even if no one gets hurt, theres a reason we shouldnt take those risks. *(assuming that you did so)* She covers a totally different subject area so it never even crossed my mind that her career would be an additional conflict. Theres no such thing as blind-siding once youve committed an infraction and people have to act on it. A majority of those who work from home would use their own personal digital devices such as laptop, tablet or mobile to perform their daily work tasks and it is also convenient for employees to. You take this as a hideously painful lesson, and change your behavior across the board, and most people could see that as a learning moment, from which you learned. I dont mean to sound harsh but you really need to break out of this frame of mind. e.g. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone You breached confidential information to a journalist. Well, you certainly can do that, but its one hell of a risk, and a continuation of poor ethics. First coworker punched second coworker. The reason all this info is locked down tightly is so that they can control the message when it goes out. If it was something that was a big deal to LW but not huge news externally, yeah, its not a thing. Its good to hear from you! Have you learned from your mistake? They care a little more in the last 2 years, but not much. Im sure the letter writer has plenty of that to deal with already. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! On the non-security side of things its fascinating to learn what the folks in the booth behind me are working on as Im quietly eating lunch, but its a serious security violation to discuss that kind of thing in public and it makes me cringe so hard when it happens. And then they did it again. OP, you truly buried the lede: you leaked to a journalist. Even though shes made the same mistake 2 times). In a job interview, how do I explain why I was fired? It happens. I wont lie, Im tremendously curious, but I also know this is just one of those things I will never get to know. The penalty for breach of confidentiality isn't restricted to employees who have . Thats pretty ratty behavior. Shes never even heard any of the names of our clients, except for a couple she met once at an adjunct social function. Thats also real life. Excellent points, especially LWs use of ratted out. Alison has said so many times that theres no tattling in the work world. You know thats not how that works. OP, take a deep breath. I doubt she had it out for you and rather was worried you confided a big breech to her which could adversely affect the company. Sometimes people screw up and they still really need their jobs. If *you* got that carried away, you cant guarantee that she wont, either. What OP did was incredibly serious and, as happened, a fireable offense. Find somewhere else to tell it in order to release the steam valve. Box-ticking SA&T wont change security behaviors. Lack of rigor. 1. Ive heard complaints from folks who arent allowed to give positive references to former coworkers who earned them. I dont love not being able to tell her things (even though we are each others I promise not to tell anybody (but Friend) person), the way we share this information is by forwarding press releases once the information is public. Like X candidate is running for president!. Firing you was probably not what they wanted to do, and Im sorry. We need to be careful about using terms like victimless mistake. It will get out, eventually. Its a great professional resource with a lot of professional development around ethics. Then the stories died down and the pressure with it even though there were still occasional leaks. Or even if you sit at the bar and the llama design keeps crossing your mind and you talk before you think. It doesnt, but we still shouldnt state assumptions like facts if theyre not supported by whats said in the letter and theres nothing wrong with Michaela pointing it out. Employees can't just post anything they want on Facebook or anywhere else. Me too in Government. A recent Harvard Business Review article indicated widespread use in the workplace, with over one third of the US . This is a situation that youre going to have great difficulty explaining away and I might prefer a resume gap to being at such a disadvantage. Im interested in the fact that the journalist friend is described as 100% trustworthy. Im not sure whether this is something they can move on from or not, but they absolutely need to get themselves out of the mindset that their coworker ratted on them, because thinking that reporting things like that is tattling and childish is how corruption grows. Everyone messes up. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Our actions and our thoughts can definitely be wrong, but calling someones feelingswhich they have little to no control overwrong (or, dead wrong with double asterisks), only contributes to shame and self-loathing. The first job will be the hardest but gradually you are less and less likely to be asked about an older job. Some offenses are so serious that you immediately get fired. OP, I join Alison in wishing you the very best of luck! This just wasnt the place for you in the end. The OP was not entitled to be making calls on who outside the org could be trusted with this information. Accept the responsibility for your actions and it will make life a lot easier going forward. January 31, 2022 . Thats totally true, and when I worked for state government release of confidential information would have been grounds for immediate termination, but Alison is the only one who calls it confidential, OP calls it non-public. Just *looking* at the account would get you noticed and your hand slapped (if you were lucky). Same-sex marriage is going to be legalized tomorrow!. Once youve actually done the thing, its out there. So, I can talk about it, I can say Omg, there was one scene that I was just like SuperCheese! and rolling my eyes. This reminds me of how Northwestern Hospital had to fire 50 employees back in March for violating HIPAA by accessing Jussie Smolletts medical records. I think its also something to do with the fact that if you tell a journalist something newsworthy, youre not just talking, youre offering a thing of (potential) value, which is an entirely different action from sharing news with a friend. In addition to 100% needing to own it when asked about it, I think OP may also benefit from focusing the job search on jobs that dont involve handling sensitive or high profile information. But leadership has to know that if they share confidential material with us that it will stay confidential. I agree. Resist the temptation to gossip about fellow employees and don't express your disdain for your. Don't worry, you're not alone. Thats the real clincher here for me) and on a personal level with management your position is one of trust and you violated the basis of your work. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. She probably felt she had a duty to disclose it and she may well have. super! you can include that in there too, not as a way to cast doubt on their decision but as a way to indicate this was a fluke, not a pattern of bad judgment. They sound far more serious than what happened. So you let the cat out of the bag about the cat your zoo bagged? A good . My late dad worked for a government defence research agency for most of his career. If youd like to learn more about human layer security and email data loss prevention (DLP), you can explore our content hub for more information. You knew better. Disclosing Government information to a journalist (even a friend in confidence) without permission is a major breach of confidence and Im not surprised it resulted in a significant sanction. But you see that now I hope. Or well often hear from contacts on the Hill about something going on behind the scenes, like that a bill is about to be introduced. Yeah just assume that for the next few years youre out of the running for jobs that require a confidentiality. You learned, BOY HOWDY did you learn, and now you dont mess around not even gossiping with co-workers or any of those other little ways that could instill doubt in your discretion. It can take down evil people who mean to do others harm. Im not curious at all, but Im different. You are right. A lot of times, the actual employee might not be important, but they might know something like when a key senior person works, or gossip about so-and-so, that is then used to either help with hacking, help with fraud, do additional social engineering where they know just enough about a topic to lead the conversation, or in some cases to put pressure on a higher-level person to try to get them to give further information or make certain decisions.