Reporting an incident
The most important security skill is not avoiding every mistake. It is telling someone quickly when something goes wrong. Fast reporting turns a would-be disaster into a minor event.
What counts as an incident
Report anything that might be a security problem, including:
- You clicked a link or opened an attachment and then felt uneasy.
- You entered your password on a page that now looks fake.
- A device was lost or stolen.
- You sent sensitive data to the wrong person.
- You notice something odd: unexpected logins, files you did not change, strange messages sent from your account.
When in doubt, report. A false alarm costs minutes; a hidden breach costs far more.
Speed matters more than certainty
You do not need to be sure, and you do not need to fix it yourself. The sooner the security team knows, the sooner they can contain it, before an attacker moves further.
Blame-free reporting
Attackers are skilled and anyone can be fooled. A healthy organisation thanks people for reporting, even when they were the one who clicked. Hiding a mistake is the only real failure, because it gives the attacker more time.
How to report
- Use your Report phishing button for suspicious email.
- For anything else, contact the security team through the channel your organisation has set up.
- Write down what happened and when, while it is fresh.
Report early, report honestly, and let the experts take it from there.