Artifact GuideBrazilBreach Notification

Brazil LGPD Breach Notification

The controller must notify the ANPD and affected people when a confirmed incident involving LGPD-covered personal data may cause .

Resolution 15/2024 generally sets a three-business-day clock from the controller's knowledge that personal data was affected, subject to specific legislation and the qualifying small-agent extension.

Author
Sorena AI
Published
May 9, 2026
Updated
Oct 15, 2026
Overview

Use three gates under Brazil's Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD): confirm that a occurred, confirm that it involves personal data subject to the LGPD, and assess whether it may cause . If all three are met, the controller must notify the Agência Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD) and affected people. Start the clock when the controller knows that the incident affected personal data; an operator must inform the controller without unjustified delay and provide the information needed for the notices.

Section 1

What should teams decide about Breach Notification under the Brazil LGPD?

Resolution 15/2024 defines an incident as a confirmed adverse event that violates confidentiality, integrity, availability, or authenticity of personal-data security. A vulnerability without a confirmed adverse event is not by itself a reportable incident, and an event involving only data that is not personal data does not meet the LGPD gate.

requires a potential significant effect on fundamental interests and rights and, cumulatively, at least one listed factor: sensitive data; data about children, adolescents, or older people; financial data; system-authentication data; data protected by legal, judicial, or professional secrecy; or large-scale data.

  • Confirm the event, affected processing, personal-data categories, people, volume, systems, controller, operators, and whether the LGPD applies.
  • Assess likely material, moral, reputational, discriminatory, identity-theft, fraud, physical, or other effects, together with protective measures and post-incident mitigation.
  • Record the controller's knowledge date and the three-business-day calculation; identify any shorter sector-specific deadline.
  • Document the report or the reasoned no-report decision. The controller must keep incident records, including non-reportable incidents, for at least five years from registration unless another duty requires longer retention. Article 10(2) provides an exception for Article 23 public bodies that follow applicable permanent-record archival rules.
Section 2

Who should own Breach Notification, and what evidence should prove the decision?

The controller owns the Article 48 decision and communication. Security investigates and contains the event; operators notify the controller and provide available information without delay; privacy or legal applies the reportability test; communications and support teams prepare clear, direct instructions for affected people.

Notify the ANPD and affected people within three business days from the controller's knowledge that personal data was affected, unless specific legislation sets another period. Qualifying small processing agents receive six business days under the differentiated regime. If justified information is unavailable, make a and provide the complement within 20 business days from the preliminary filing, or 40 business days for qualifying small processing agents. A preliminary filing does not complete Article 48 by itself.

The ANPD filing should identify the incident, affected data and people, controller and operator, occurrence and knowledge dates, risks, technical and security measures, mitigation, data-subject communication, any delay, and the controller's contact route. The notice to affected people should explain the nature and categories of affected data, protection measures subject to protected secrets, risks, the controller's knowledge date, mitigation or reversal measures, recommended steps, delay where relevant, and a contact for questions.

  • Name one accountable owner and one reviewer for the Breach Notification workflow.
  • Keep source screenshots or source links, decision notes, implementation tickets, and approval records together.
  • Keep occurrence and knowledge times, affected systems and backups, data and people, controller and operator facts, risk analysis, containment, deadline calculation, filed forms, affected-person notice, supplements, remediation, and approval.
  • If notice is late, explain the reason. Preserve proof of the filing route and delivery to affected people.
  • Where direct individual notice is infeasible or affected people cannot be identified, publish the required information through available channels within the applicable notice period and keep it prominently accessible for at least three months. For both individual and public notice, submit a declaration to the ANPD process describing the notice channels within three business days after the data-subject notice deadline, as required by Article 9(4).
Section 3

Which facts can change the notification decision?

Encryption, pseudonymisation, containment, or deletion by the recipient can reduce risk but does not automatically end the assessment. Consider whether the measures genuinely prevent identification or harmful use, the type and volume of data, vulnerable groups, likely consequences, and whether mitigation reached every affected copy.

A single event can involve several controllers. Each controller must assess its own Article 48 duty. An operator should not file as if it were the controller unless it is legally representing the controller through the accepted procedure.

  • Do not wait for complete forensic certainty if the notification gate and clock are already met; use the preliminary and complementary route where justified.
  • Do not notify only the ANPD when the same reportability test also requires notice to affected people.
  • Tailor the affected-person notice to the risks and mitigation they can use; avoid marketing language or a notice that hides the incident.
  • Check sector rules and eligible small-agent timing separately; use the shortest applicable period.
Section 4

What should the incident workflow produce?

Maintain a tested incident intake, controller knowledge timestamp, operator escalation clause, reportability worksheet, ANPD filing owner, affected-person notice path, complement tracker with the applicable 20- or 40-business-day deadline, five-year record, and remediation owner.

The output should be either a reasoned no-report decision or a matched ANPD and affected-person communication package. Update it if later facts change the risk assessment, population, data, or mitigation.

  • Exercise the workflow with incomplete facts so the team can use preliminary and complementary filings.
  • Pre-approve roles and contact routes, but draft the notice from the actual incident and risks.
  • Track promises made to affected people and verify that mitigation and follow-up are completed.
  • Reassess the control after an incident, near miss, vendor change, new data category, or ANPD procedure change.
Primary sources

References and citations

gov.br2 citations
Referenced sections
  • Official current reportability, risk-assessment, three-business-day timing, filing, phased-communication, notice, and five-year record guidance under Resolution 15/2024.
  • Official explanation of the confirmed-incident, LGPD-data, and relevant-risk gates; risk factors; filing route; timing; phased communication; and records.
gov.br2 citations
Referenced sections
  • Official ANPD timing, filing, preliminary and complementary communication, data-subject notice, and incident-record guidance.
  • Official explanation of risk assessment, controller responsibility, timing, content, and phased communication.
planalto.gov.br2 citations
Referenced sections
  • Article 48 is the binding duty to notify the authority and data subjects when an incident may cause relevant risk or damage and lists minimum notice content.
  • Primary LGPD source for Article 48 breach-notification duties to the ANPD and affected data subjects when relevant risk or damage may occur.
"O controlador deverá comunicar à autoridade nacional e ao titular a ocorrência de incidente de segurança"
planalto.gov.br
Referenced sections
  • Binding Articles 46-48 for security measures, continuing confidentiality duties, reportability, and minimum communication content.
in.gov.br
Referenced sections
  • Articles 6(3) and 6(8) set supplementation periods; Article 9 sets individual and public notice, three-month visibility, and the communication declaration.
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