No matter how much precautions are taken, sometimes personal data can fall into the wrong hands. As soon as a personal data breach occurs, the company or organisation must immediately take countermeasures and document the incident.
Depending on the severity of the incident and the number of data subjects affected, the controller must report the incident to the competent supervisory authority (Art. 33 GDPR) and, if necessary, also inform the data subjects (Art. 34 GDPR). The notification to the supervisory authority must be made within 72 hours of becoming aware of the incident.
This information obligation is also binding. If it subsequently transpires that a data protection incident was not reported or documented, this can lead to penalties and fines.