Question

what legal and ethical actions might Dunn have taken to prevent further leaks of sensitive information? HP Patricia Dunn

Answer 1

Legal and ethical actions might Dunn have taken to prevent further leaks of sensitive information:

Clearly, I don't think Dunn could ignore the leaks.

• Boards ought to be high trust organizations, in which members have confidence in one another. Few things can be more desctructive to intra-group trust than leaks, which may be perceived as inherently a breach of confidentiality but also as attempts to litigate disputes in the media instead of in the boardroom.
• With the benefit of hindsight, I think I would have advised Dunn to hire the best outside security experts she could find (instead of trying a jerry-rigged combination of in-house and outsourced resources). She then takes the experts before the board. The experts tell the board: Here's what we need to do to investigate the identity of the leaker. Dunn then asks the board to approve the investigation, making clear that the board members will be investigated. Anybody who balks should be asked to resign from the board. Leaker Keyworth thus would have been faced with the unpalatable choice of approving an investigation he now knows will include access to his phone records and so on or essentially admitting that he was the leaker by refusing to go along.