Of course, if this happens regularly there is more chance of human error being made so it's always best to use a mailing program. OP notes that she is a government employee. Can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information? You can bounce back! And not even trusting her not to publish it, but what if SHE got so excited by the news, just as LW did, that she just had to tell someone, and she picked someone that she trusted implicitly, and told them in strict confidence. The fact that the LW just couldnt resist sharing this tidbit should have been a red flag that maybe her friend couldnt, either. I would have serious questions about your judgment if I found out you told any reporter about something that was confidential. Yep, I have a friend whose grandmother was a codebreaker and took loose lips sink ships seriously till her dying day. Especially since the letter seems to have been written almost immediately after the incident, before their feelings had time to settle properly. Honestly, I got the impression that the writer was on the younger end, just in their self-reported actions and reactions. I hope you find something good soon and can put this behind you. OP has a right to be annoyed with Coworker, but Coworker was doing her job as well. No 2nd chance especially because you knew it was a no-no before you shared. Some of the stuff I handle is really interesting logistically and historically but I just do not have the right to get carried away and share it. I once interviewed someone with a great resume but had switched specialties within the field. The best solution for avoiding misdirected email altogether is through human layer security. I had not thought about this issue via this lens, but I think youre 100% right. What I ended up doing is learning to avoid mopped floors as much as possible and warning people to be careful around them. I come across soooo much incidental information about people I know in the course of this job. Some seem to imply there is no reason ever to leak information, which isnt true. Its no fun to be fired. You said it yourself that you were working on client confidential information, and sent it to your personal mailbox. So. However, were only human. I totally get how it can be really exciting to hear about cool things, and the impulse to tell the people close to you. Journalists seek out and report information thats their job.. You cant let yourself act out of emotion. How to not get fired from work for what you post or send online: Make sure your Facebook and social media accounts are locked down. All we know is that OP made a disclosure, and the coworker is aware the disclosure happened via Slack. How you analyze the situation and internalize the lesson is more important than wording for future employers right now. If OP had confessed to their manager, it would make sense for the manager to say, I have to report this to such-and-such, but the coworker was right not to warn OP. A statement added: 'Irish Ferries crews train regularly to deal with incidents at sea, and the company has put its training into action and the fire has been extinguished. These policies are sometimes written down in employee handbooks. That brings us to your questions. Its hard though, and its a skill thats learnt over time. Then whenever you send a message, you'll be given an option to "Cancel" at the top of the message before it's sent. Nothing dangerous, and while I was there it honestly wasnt even anything that would be a big scoop or exciting dinner party story. It shouldnt happen but Id understand if it did. What happened is reputation-ruining for such jobs so re-assessing what is realistic in terms of job expectations after this is important to moving on successfully LW, people in the comments are also ragging on you for being upset with your coworker but frankly, I would be mad too! Im sorry, but I think you were fired with pretty good cause and it would be important to own that or you wont be able to spin the story for future employers. And if the coworker didnt tell and it somehow got out that she knew another job lost. Thank you for explaining this! Both your friend AND your co-worker. You added nuance that I hadnt thought about. ), You also werent fired for technically breaking a rule. You were fired for actually breaking a rule, and a serious one. Has 90% of ice around Antarctica disappeared in less than a decade? In my job I often get embargoed advance copies of speeches that politicians are going to give they send them out to press to help us start working on getting most of a story written and cleared so we can just drop in a few quotes and crowd reactions and publish the story within 5-10 minutes of the speech ending. Had OP not made the initial mistake and then compounded it by telling the coworker, shed still be employed. A 40 year old making the same mistake would be much harder to trust later. (Plus, were not sure how much of the inflation came from the coworker and how much came from their superiors. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust.. I would not immediately snap into how can I report this? I wouldnt be surprised if there was a state or federal regulation that she violated by sharing that information. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. Its a great professional resource with a lot of professional development around ethics. What if there was another leak and someone found out that OP had told Coworker that she had leaked info previously, but didnt report it as she was supposed. OP, specifically following up with Alisons advice above, you were fired because you showed your employer that your first reaction when learning about confidential information was to text (1) someone outside of your company who was not authorized to know that information and (2) someone who was a journalist, who by profession is at risk for leaking said confidential information EVEN IF you only know them as a friend and EVEN IF you promise pinky swear that they would never ever do that. People dont talk about it very much but it definitely happens. It can take down evil people who mean to do others harm. But you should try to understand how this happened (why that friend? If you had to process the cool news, it may have been better to process with the mentor instead. That makes a certain subset of people *extremely* excited. She should have told her this is serious and Im going to have to report you. Then at least OP could have avoided the slack room full of journalists escalation. This is so true. You might have to take a step back in your career to come back from it but you can you bounce back. Since its a government agency, I have to wonder if there are regulations in place about this kind of leak as well, most places that deal with confidentiality clauses arent messing around with them. Some offenses are so serious that you immediately get fired. The first person needs to understand that most of the time, you arent entitled to negotiate a yes, because the answer is no. I found out accidentally.) (I think, I never worked in government communications so Im not positive of this.). Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. LW, first, I want to offer sympathy. She already got that advice from Alison. Im not curious at all, but Im different. Oh my. but to start the process of damage control. We received a staff email that shared that they were going to release some BIG news about positive new office changes and remodeling and that there was going to be a BIG press conference in 2 days at our office with a lot of high-up political bigwigs and asked everyone to show up for support. and sent to multiple people (!!)? Where I work, I cannot legally share information about very exciting things that are happening/about to happen. You seriously violated your privileged access to confidential information. 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. When weve made a mistake, it often feels unfair when we dont get an opportunity to explain, defend, and/or redeem ourselves. The only thing even slightly puzzling is why during the conversation with the mentor, mentor didnt say you do understand I am obligated to report this? Maybe mentor thought that might prompt LW to do something track-covering so it was better left going directly to the bosses without warning. We wont tell anyone. OPs best bet is to stop blaming their coworker or minimizing what happened. My point is that you learn how to share AND maintain confidentiality. 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 texted proprietary information to a journalist. Someone would then check into it to see if there was a valid reason for someone to be poking at it. The mistake may not have been trusting the friend with that information, but it was definitely telling her. Forgetting to attach a mentioned attachment is common, but still embarrassing. Sometimes people screw up and they still really need their jobs. My (unclear) point is that there are some options for OP that extend beyond you can never share anything before its public with anyone ever and completely change career tracks.. You still have to go through the same information request as someone who doesnt work there. Ive represented or advised friends, friends of friends and the occasional famous person, and nobody else knows anything about it nor will they ever. So please think about that aspect when youre thinking about how she ratted you out. Wouldn't employers just throw my application to the bin once I declare I have been dismissed for gross misconduct? Those kinds of disclosures often rise to the level of immediate termination, which is what happened, here. I fully expect that whenever they find the source of the leak the people involved will face some pretty serious consequences up to and including dismissal and possible criminal proceedings. Alisons words are great to have prepared, and be super clear that you understand it was a problem, it was bad, and you take it very seriously. Im so sorry and I will never do anything like that again.. Thats just not something you can let yourself do. This seems like a no-brainer to just not do, and if you did, certainly not to tell someone at work that you did this. Im now turning my head sideways and re-reading/rethinking. For context I work with PHI covered under HIPAA for my job. The answer hinges in part on what constitutes truly private communication, says Christine Walters, an independent consultant with FiveL Company and author of Helping Leaders Limit their Liability by Learning the Law. Oh no! Thanks for sharing all of this. Like, how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? Its ridiculous how much a speculator can get from very little information, and this is why keeping anything secret until it is announced is important. Age is hardly an indicator of a persons ability to consistently make the best choices at all times. I want to encourage you to drill deeper on something you said in your letter: I did feel guilty. I dont know if it was to avoid track-covering or to prevent retaliation, but that was a specific part of the procedure. Some certainly will, especially those who are more security-conscious. Learn how to protect your investment management firm through intelligent email DLP. This just wasnt the place for you in the end. They care a little more in the last 2 years, but not much. Lack of the maturity to keep exciting news to onesself. Long since past, now.). Better to have a 30% chance than a 0% chance. ); Im also thinking of someone I know whose work depends on his being able to drive who got a DUI last year, and someone who essentially had a full emotional breakdown in a workplace I was in when I was a lot younger, who ended up under her desk sobbing and throwing things). Really? Remember to be kind to yourself: youre human, you made a mistake and, as you said, youve learned from it. So this. For excellent reasons. Take ownership and accountability of it, because for better or worse, all of us could have made OPs mistake at some point in our careers. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend.. Then both OP and Coworker could be out of a job. How do I go about asking for a job on another team? Yeah, I wish the mentor had walked the LW directly to the boss to discuss this openly. A few weeks ago I worked on a medical chart for A Big Rockstar, but not only do I get fired if I tell anyone which one, I get fired if I open up a single page of his chart that I cant explain, if asked, what the exact and specific work-related reason for opening that page was. We need to be careful about using terms like victimless mistake. I worked for a federal government contractor and we were awaiting news of whether we were getting a contract renewal. Which means have to vet things like your friend is a journalist, but doesnt cover your area? 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. Best of luck with your search. It sucks this happened, and Im sorry that this was the way it all went down. While it is possible the line could be actively tapped/monitored by someone else, even if it was an unsecured line it would be reasonable to assume the home phone number on file for GSA's dad would lead to the dad. They must always assume the worst case anyway. According to Tessian research, over half (58%) of employees say they've sent an email to the wrong person. Thank you. Unauthorized Emails: The Risks of Sending Data to Your Personal Email Accounts. I always wondered if they remained friends after that fiasco. Maybe thats the case in your field, but usually confidential doesnt mean that. Negative emotions are a learning toolfeeling guilty is very uncomfortable, so we dont repeat the behavior that led to the feeling guilty. My company is not going to jeopardize a $500M/yr contract over my mouth. Please keep us updated and let us know how things work out for you. Nah, I think the odds of whats super exciting to a government agency being equally exciting to me are pretty slim. That way, the Address box of every reply starts out empty. But what you do when youre on the other side of the inbox? But sending e-mails about a seemingly innocuous hobby cost one . Or that might not make a difference on how its interpreted. That guilt is because you KNEW you did something that was explicitly not allowed, and you went to your coworker in the hopes theyd absolve you of your guilty conscious. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Given how much we have learned about foreign intelligence operations in American social media in the last few years, this is yet another reason why information security of all levels is taken so seriously. People just seemed to forget that with Epic, even one second of accessing a chart is recorded. picture of male guinea fowl . Im not saying the employer didnt do these things or even if they didnt that its anybodys fault other than LW that this happened, but its a good way to stop situations like this before they happen. There are offenses, especially regarding releasing items, that would be serious enough to warrant immediate dismissal. Coworker would let the other authorities figure that out. 3) The recipient was a journalist thats super relevant, even if its not in their area Note: You dont want to frame this as It would have been made public eventually so I did nothing wrong. Your tone is still very much acknowledging that you messed up. But leadership has to know that if they share confidential material with us that it will stay confidential. (I dont know if the OP explicitly said off the record, but its not like journalists dont handle that all the time when people do.). Is it possible to rotate a window 90 degrees if it has the same length and width? I dont know. Many employers monitor emails, and some employees . Embargoes and off-the-record information are for journalists who are actually covering a story and in most cases that information can be shared in the newsroom (by saying a source told me off record if confidentiality is really important) and acted upon (you can start to write out a story to be ready when the embargo lifts, or call work to corroborate the off-the-record with on background or on record sources). There are people who would refuse to acknowledge their error and go about their lives being bitter and blaming others. It might possibly be seen as less bad that the information shared was intended to be made public anyway, as opposed to it being information that wasnt ever supposed to get out. Nothing got out about this before it was supposed to. I know it isnt the actual incident since the details dont match (no twitter or cake pictures mentioned in OPs case), but I was assuming it was something like the NASA gravitational waves thing. If nothing exculpatory came out in that meeting then maybe firing was the appropriate response. Or, heck, for all I know he didnt actually work on anything that interesting.