Cybersecurity expert reveals legal reason you should never use colleagues' names when discussing them in work chats

We've all had someone at work - whether it's a micromanaging boss or an annoying colleague - who's really stressed us out.

But one tech expert on TikTok has revealed the main reason you should never use someone’s name when talking about them at work.

Cybersecurity specialist (@cybercharlie4) explained the risk you could be at if you talk about people behind their backs online at work.

This is because there is something called 'Subject Access Requests' which is what an employee can ask for if they're leaving the business.

Charlie said: "So if the individual you're talking about was to one day leave the organisation maybe in a slightly bitter way and they were then to raise a GDPR subject access request, they could request that they get any information on IT systems that mentions their name."

He went on to say that this includes 'any conversations that mentions their name.'

Even if you only used their first or last name, those could still be searched and found.

"Thus, they would actually be able to get hold of all the conversations where you spoke about them because their name was mentioned," he added.

According to the cybersecurity specialist, this request is under GDPR and it's a legal regulation data privacy experts have to do if someone leaves a business and companies have to abide by it.

Charlie explained: "We search key terms in IT systems to then retrieve information and obviously the main key term searched is their full name or even their first and second name."

So if you do have a sly comment or someone's pissed you off at work, make sure to only reference them by something discreet or by their initials.

"Just mention their initials and the other individual will know what they mean," he added.

He even warned that initials could still show up in a request, so it’s best to just use one letter - or better yet, don’t mention them at all in work-related chats.

"So don't do it and nothing will be returned, therefore no information will actually be given back to them," the expert added.

This rule doesn’t just apply to platforms like Slack, Google Chat or Microsoft Teams, they can also include WhatsApp.

Charlie concluded: "So be very careful, do not mention people's full names because they will turn up in a subject access request."

TikTok viewers have been commenting similar advice on the back of the viral clip, saying: "just don't do it at work on the IT system, simple".

Another viewer added: "Always assume that nothing you write at work is private."