Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) Practice Exam 2025 – All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

The definition of a privacy breach is centered around the concepts of unauthorized access, loss, or disclosure of personal data. When personal data—information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual—is accessed or released in a manner that violates privacy laws or agreements, it constitutes a breach. This can occur through hacking, accidental sharing, loss of a device containing sensitive data, or any situation where the data is compromised without appropriate authorization or safeguards.

In contrast, the other options focus on different aspects of data privacy and management rather than the act of breaching. The failure to acquire consent concerns the legality of data collection and processing rather than an incident of breach. A minor error in data reporting and any inaccuracies in data entry pertain to data quality issues rather than unauthorized access or disclosure, which is the crux of a privacy breach. Thus, option A encompasses the essential elements of what constitutes a privacy breach.