Colleague accidentally revealed an internal corporate secret

Post date: 2024-04-20 08:15:22

A coworker has accidentally revealed a disruptive company secret to other staff; I was aware of the secret and am now being asked if I knew of it, how to respond? Multiple timezones & work cultures involved.

A coworker (Person A) and myself were informed of a possible corporate reshuffling by some very senior staff, and were specifically told not to mention this to ANYONE else as it hasn't been decided upon and would tend to be disruptive regardless of whether they do or do not proceed. This was in the context of helping us reallocate some of our work in more productive ways. All of the above is in writing.

My coworker (A), in the course of explaining something to another team, accidentally (I assume) mentioned this reshuffling to one of the people who would be affected (Person B). This mistake is also in written form.

Person B has just asked me if I know what is going on. I like them, but I am also personally VERY rigorous when it comes to, um, "information security "and that has been an advantage in my career (I would never make the error my coworker made). I would prefer to avoid a lie, unless I can do so in a way that's unlikely to be exposed.

As it is Friday in my timezone, I have the weekend to consider how to respond to Person B. Any thoughts?

I should also say if the senior staff find out that my coworker (A) let the secret slip to Person B it will be bad for the career of A. Similarly, it would be quite bad for me personally if anyone thought I made a similar mistake. We're not talking about being fired, but rather "Ah, this person cannot be trusted, let's keep that in mind" type of thing.

Person B will not be fired as a consequence of the reshuffle, their team would merely be moved (with them) to a slightly different division, so the secrecy is purely in terms of organizational politics and people getting grumpy about those politics.

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