'Vigilance, Doubt, Distrust:' Bulgarian Watchdog's Advice for Unintentional Data Disclosures
As incidents increase where personal data is stolen or unintentionally lost, the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection (CPDP) published advice on what people should do in such situations. The CPDP's guidance was aimed at those who involuntarily or unintentionally disclose their or relatives' personal data.
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The most important precaution, the office said, is approaching each situation "critically, with vigilance, doubt and distrust!"
Steps the office recommended included:
- Assessing what happened calmly and objectively.
- Saving all messages, emails, phone numbers, document numbers and other relevant evidence.
- In case of lost or stolen documents, inform the relevant institution (e.g., banks, government departments).
- Replacing passwords immediately and activating two-factor authentication wherever possible.
- Monitoring unusual and/or suspicious activity on bank accounts, social networking accounts and other online platforms, and immediately alerting the relevant institution
The CDPD also cautioned against providing personal data before you know whom you're speaking with, not opening suspicious links and updating your knowledge of data hygiene and privacy rules.
Cases often involve providing data in a phone conversation or email with companies offering services, or losing documents that contain personal information, the CPDP said. Some involve documents wrongly provided to service providers, such as courier companies or mobile operators, while others center on responses to misleading messages seeking personal information, for instance, by phishing.
The watchdog urged people to remain especially vigilant as the country introduces the euro as its currency. As a result, phishing attacks to steal personal data may increase, it said.