Handling confidential information day to day
For all staff who handle customer, employee or business information in their daily work, in offices, at home or on the move. Complete 'Personal data at work: recognize, protect and report' first; this course turns that awareness into daily routines. You'll map where copies of confidential information end up, share the minimum with the fewest people, use safeguards for printing, post, email, screen sharing and conversations, dispose of paper and digital copies properly, and report a suspected loss straight away. It uses two public sources: the US Federal Trade Commission's guide for businesses (US) and the UK Information Commissioner's Office advice for organisations (UK, under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act). Your organisation's policies decide what counts as confidential and how to handle it. This course is awareness training, not legal advice, and doesn't qualify you to make legal decisions about data.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 95 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify the confidential information you handle and every place copies of it end up
- Choose the minimum information and the narrowest audience a task needs before you share it
- Apply everyday safeguards when printing, posting, emailing, screen sharing, talking and working away from your desk
- Dispose of paper and digital copies so they can't be read or recovered, including sent items, downloads and recycle bins
- Report a suspected loss or misdirected information to the right person immediately, recording facts without spreading the data further
Course outline
- 1.Identifying the confidential information you handle and where copies end upLesson · 15 min
- 2.Choosing the minimum information and the narrowest audienceLesson · 16 min
- 3.Applying everyday safeguardsLesson · 18 min
- 4.Disposing of paper and digital copiesLesson · 15 min
- 5.Reporting a suspected loss or misdirected informationLesson · 14 min
- 6.Handling confidential information day to day: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Handling confidential information day to day: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- US FTC: Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business (October 2016)
- UK ICO: Data security: quick wins (updated 8 August 2022; under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act)
- UK ICO: How to minimise the risk of personal data breaches happening
- UK ICO: Practical methods for destroying documents that are no longer needed
- UK ICO: 72 hours: how to respond to a personal data breach
- UK ICO: A guide to data security (UK GDPR security principle, staff training)
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.