Human resources outfit PageUp People, which was hit by a massive data leak that it made public in June, apparently has been receiving post-breach advice from the local office of the biggest PR agency in the world – Edelman.

"If there's one thing worse than a bungle, it's a cover-up. And if there's one thing worse than a cover-up, it's being caught covering up." Wise words those, from the authors of a small, but very useful, book on data breaches and how to manage them.

Companies involved in 14 major recent data breaches in Australia and the rest of the world — including human resources outfit PageUp People — did not even achieve a passing grade for the way in which they handled post-breach communications, the authors of a new book on breaches say.