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Report the disclosure immediately through your organization’s incident-response channel, stop the conversation, preserve the evidence, and alert IT or security if credentials or account access may be exposed. Do not blame the employee or investigate alone. The response team must determine what was sent, whether the attacker used it, which systems or people are affected, and whether privacy or legal notifications are required.
This procedure applies to email, phone calls, text messages, social-media chats, collaboration tools, file-sharing services, and any other channel. A suspicion is enough to raise the alarm; you do not need proof that an account was breached before reporting.
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The first 15 minutes
Speed matters, but hurried cleanup can destroy evidence. Follow these actions in order unless your incident-response plan specifies a different emergency path.
- End the interaction. Do not reply, click additional links, open more attachments, send more information, or negotiate with the suspected attacker. Leave the message or call record intact.
- Use the approved reporting channel. Contact the security operations team, help desk, incident hotline, or manager designated by the organization’s incident-response plan. If the normal channel might be compromised, use the plan’s out-of-band contact method, such as a known phone number or separate account.
- Preserve the record. Keep the original email, chat, text, call details, or file-sharing notification. Record the sender address or number, display name, time zone and time, links, attachments, files, information sent, and actions taken afterward. Do not forward sensitive material to a large group.
- Flag exposed access. Tell responders immediately if a password, one-time code, recovery link, API key, session cookie, payment detail, or identity document was disclosed. Security staff can restrict the account, revoke sessions or tokens, and reset credentials through a trusted route.
- Protect related accounts. Change the affected password and any reused password to unique values when directed by IT or security. Do not use a link supplied in the suspicious message to change it.
- Escalate money or personal data. If a company financial account, payment instruction, customer record, employee record, supplier data, or other personal information may be involved, tell the finance, privacy, and legal contacts named in the response plan.
NIST’s phishing guidance (updated August 19, 2025) advises ending engagement with the sender, notifying the appropriate people, and changing affected passwords. NIST’s SP 800-61 Rev. 3, finalized April 3, 2025, treats incident response and recovery as part of cybersecurity risk management.
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How to make a useful incident report
A responder needs a factual timeline, not a perfect explanation. Submit the report through the secure channel your organization specifies and keep a copy of the report reference number.
| Record | Include | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Communication | Original message or call record, sender address or number, display name, platform, subject, links, attachments, and screenshots if policy permits | Lets analysts identify the campaign and preserve indicators without asking the employee to re-engage |
| Timing | When the contact arrived, when information was sent, and when links, files, or codes were used | Allows sign-ins, mailbox events, network logs, and payment activity to be matched to the disclosure |
| Information sent | Exact categories and approximate volume: credentials, codes, customer records, contracts, source code, financial data, or identity documents | Determines the likely impact and whether privacy or contractual duties may apply |
| Accounts and devices | Username, service, device, browser, phone, virtual desktop, or shared mailbox involved | Defines the access that must be contained and reviewed |
| Actions afterward | Replies, downloads, sign-ins, password changes, software installs, forwarding, payments, or deletion | Separates a limited disclosure from a broader compromise and helps preserve evidence |
Describe what you know and label assumptions as uncertain. For example, say “the spreadsheet was uploaded to the link at 10:42 UTC” rather than “the attacker stole the database” unless logs establish that fact.
Contain access without erasing evidence
Containment should stop further access while preserving the information responders need. The incident lead or security team should coordinate these changes; employees should not independently wipe devices, delete messages, or rebuild systems.
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Credentials, codes, and keys
- Disable or suspend the affected account when the risk warrants it.
- Revoke active sessions, refresh tokens, app passwords, API keys, and recovery codes that may have been exposed.
- Reset the password through a trusted, known-good sign-in page and check for password reuse on other services.
- Require fresh multifactor authentication enrollment if the attacker may have enrolled a device or obtained a recovery method.
- Review privileged memberships and delegated access. Remove unexpected administrators, application consents, and shared-secret access.
Mailbox and collaboration accounts
- Check for new forwarding rules, inbox rules, delegated access, OAuth grants, unusual sign-ins, and changes to recovery details.
- Preserve audit logs before routine retention or cleanup removes them.
- Temporarily restrict external sharing and public links when confidential files may have been exposed.
Devices and sessions
Do not factory-reset or reimage a device before responders decide whether volatile evidence is needed. CISA’s StopRansomware guidance specifically highlights preserving volatile evidence, including system memory and logs, where applicable. If a device is actively running malicious software or an attacker is connected, follow the organization’s emergency isolation procedure; otherwise, leave it powered and connected only as instructed so evidence can be collected safely.
Establish what the attacker could access
The central investigation question is whether the incident stopped with information the employee voluntarily sent or whether the attacker used that information to enter accounts, alter systems, or obtain additional data. NIST SP 1800-29 and its companion guide describe using monitoring, logging, and reporting to determine which sensitive data was accessed and to support impact decisions.
Review the relevant records
| Record source | Questions to answer |
|---|---|
| Identity and sign-in logs | Were there successful or failed sign-ins from unfamiliar locations, devices, autonomous systems, or impossible travel patterns? Did multifactor prompts occur? |
| Account and mailbox audit logs | Were passwords, recovery details, forwarding rules, permissions, or OAuth applications changed? Were messages read, deleted, or forwarded? |
| Cloud and file-sharing logs | Which files were viewed, downloaded, copied, shared, or made public? Were links created or permissions broadened? |
| Endpoint and network telemetry | Did the device download malware, execute an unusual process, connect to a command server, or transfer data? |
| Business-system records | Were payments, supplier details, customer records, orders, code repositories, or production settings changed? |
Classify the outcome
- Information sent, no evidence of account use: Preserve the disclosure and identify everyone or every process represented in the material. Continue monitoring for follow-on attempts.
- Credentials or codes sent: Treat the account as potentially compromised until sessions, tokens, sign-ins, and account changes have been reviewed.
- Unauthorized access confirmed: Scope the attacker’s actions, contain every affected identity and system, and determine what was viewed, changed, copied, or exfiltrated.
- Malicious file or software involved: Isolate the endpoint according to the response plan and preserve forensic evidence before remediation.
- Financial instruction or payment detail involved: Contact the financial institution promptly through a trusted number and coordinate payment recall or account protection with finance and legal staff.
Scope should be written in precise categories: data viewed, data changed, data copied or transferred, systems reached, and people or business processes affected. “No evidence found” is different from “proved impossible”; retain the logs and explain the review period and systems covered.
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Decide whether privacy or legal notification is required
There is no single notification rule for every organization, data type, or jurisdiction. The privacy officer and legal counsel should assess the facts established by the investigation, the locations of affected people, contractual obligations, sector rules, and applicable breach laws. NIST’s phishing guidance recommends considering notification when another person’s personal data may have been compromised, while SP 1800-29 connects the data accessed with decisions about which parties may need notice.
Give decision-makers the facts they need
- What categories of personal, confidential, regulated, or proprietary information were involved?
- Whose information was involved: customers, employees, suppliers, patients, students, or other groups?
- Was the information merely sent, or is there evidence it was opened, downloaded, copied, or used?
- Can the organization identify the recipient and verify whether the material remains accessible?
- Which countries, states, contracts, regulators, insurers, or customers may impose deadlines or notice requirements?
Do not promise employees, customers, partners, or the public that no data was accessed until the responsible investigation supports that statement. A communications lead should coordinate approved wording with privacy and legal staff.
Communicate with the employee and the organization
Prompt reporting is more likely when employees know they will be treated fairly. Thank the employee for reporting, focus on observable facts, and avoid language that discourages future reporting. The security team can ask clarifying questions without turning the conversation into a disciplinary interview.
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Internal updates
Use the incident plan’s designated incident manager and communications lead. Share only the minimum necessary information with people who need it for containment, investigation, customer support, finance, or legal work. State what is known, what is being checked, what actions employees must take, and where future updates will appear.
External messages
Only authorized spokespeople should contact customers, suppliers, regulators, law enforcement, insurers, or the media. Avoid naming the employee, speculating about the attacker, or publishing technical indicators that could expose victims or interfere with the investigation. If notification is required, privacy and legal leads should set the audience, timing, content, and delivery method.
Channel-specific considerations
Phone or video call
Record the caller’s number, claimed identity, callback request, time, and instructions. Do not rely on caller ID. Tell security whether the employee used screen sharing, installed remote-control software, read out a code, or approved a push notification.
Text or social-media message
Preserve the complete thread, profile URL or handle, attachments, and any shortened links. Report impersonation to the platform only after saving the evidence and following the organization’s instructions.
File-sharing or collaboration service
Capture the file name, owner, permission setting, recipient account, share link, and download history. Security should revoke the link or recipient access in a controlled way and retain audit records first when possible.
Accidental email or wrong recipient
Tell the recipient not to open, copy, or forward the material and ask for deletion only through an approved process. Do not assume deletion proves that no copy exists; record the recipient, delivery status, attachments, and any access logs.
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Actions that make the incident worse
- Continuing the conversation to “test” whether the sender is real.
- Clicking another link or opening another attachment to gather proof.
- Forwarding the sensitive material to a personal mailbox or broad internal list.
- Deleting the original message, chat, files, browser history, or logs.
- Changing evidence-bearing systems before responders capture required records.
- Using a password-reset link or phone number supplied by the suspicious contact.
- Announcing a breach or assigning blame before the incident lead and legal team approve the facts.
- Paying an invoice, changing bank details, or approving a transfer solely because the message appears urgent.
Recovery and follow-through
Recovery begins after the team has contained access and established a defensible scope. Restore accounts and systems from trusted configurations, verify that unauthorized rules and permissions are gone, and monitor for renewed sign-ins or data transfers. Keep heightened monitoring long enough to cover the attacker’s likely persistence methods and the organization’s log-retention limits.
Document the timeline, decisions, evidence collected, systems reviewed, notifications made, and unresolved uncertainty. Conduct a lessons-learned review that examines process and controls rather than blaming one person. Useful improvements can include clearer reporting buttons, stronger verification for payment or password requests, better external-sharing defaults, phishing-resistant multifactor authentication for high-risk accounts, shorter privileged-access windows, and exercises that teach employees how to report a mistake quickly.
NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 3 superseded Rev. 2 in April 2025. Align the organization’s plan, roles, escalation paths, and recovery criteria with the current revision and with the legal requirements that apply to its operations.
Quick Recap
Quick-reference checklist
- Stop responding and do not click, open, send, or negotiate further.
- Report through the approved incident-response channel.
- Preserve the original communication, timeline, sender details, links, files, and actions.
- Identify every credential, code, key, account, device, and data category involved.
- Let security contain accounts, sessions, tokens, permissions, and sharing links through trusted methods.
- Review sign-ins, mailbox rules, downloads, sharing, endpoint activity, and business-system changes.
- Escalate financial activity and possible personal-data exposure to finance, privacy, and legal leads.
- Use the designated communications lead and avoid unsupported public claims.
- Record the final scope, recovery actions, notifications, and lessons learned.
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