Tell a client about a security incident, calmly
From the MSP Daily Prompt, Tuesday 7 Jul. The full workflow. Run the three prompts in sequence in the same conversation. Each one uses the output of the last.
What you end up with: the notification in two severities, a fast holding message, and the follow-up that rebuilds trust.
The scenario:
When something goes wrong on your watch, the technical fix is half the job. The other half is what you tell the client, and how fast.
Go quiet and they assume the worst. Communicate clearly and calmly and a bad day becomes proof you are worth trusting. The words matter as much as the patch.
The prompts:
Any AI tool.
STEP 1 - Write the notification
You are writing a client notification email for a managed service provider about a security incident.
Works in any AI tool.
Context:
What happened: [describe the incident]
What was affected: [data or systems]
What we have done so far: [actions]
Build:
What happened, in plain terms
What data or systems were affected
What we have already done and what we are doing next
What the client needs to do, if anything
Keep it calm, honest, and free of blame or jargon. Avoid over-promising. Give me a version for a minor incident and a version for a serious one. Ask me for the details first if I have not given them.
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Same conversation.
STEP 2 - The first message
Before the full picture is clear, write the short holding message that goes out fast.
- What we know right now
- That we are on it
- When they will hear from us next
Calm, plain, no speculation, no blame. Three or four sentences.
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Same conversation.
STEP 3 - Close it out
Once it is resolved, write the follow-up that rebuilds trust.
- A plain summary of what happened and why
- The one change we made so it does not recur
- An offer to talk it through
Add a one-line version for the account review.
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How to use it:
Keep all three ready before you need them. The MSP who communicates fast and straight through a bad day comes out trusted.