In the face of a customer accused of illegally obtaining confidential data, the core of the defense is to prove that the motivation and purpose of his behavior is to test whether the company's protection measures for sensitive information are sound, not for malicious or illegal purposes. The following is a possible defense strategy： ### 1. **Clarify motivation and purpose** -**Emphasize bona fide motives**: First of all, it is clear that the customer's motivation is to help the company discover and repair potential security vulnerabilities, not for personal gain or malicious purposes. The customer's behavior can be regarded as a kind of “white hat hacking” behavior, that is, through simulated attacks to test the security of the system. -**Citing industry practices**: It is pointed out that in the field of information security, many companies will hire external experts or internal employees to conduct Penetration testing to assess the security of their systems. The behavior of the customer can be analogized to this kind of legal security test. ### 2. **Prove the legality of the behavior** -**Prior authorization or acquiescence**: If the customer has communicated with the company before obtaining the data, and the company acquiesces or does not expressly prohibit this behavior, it can claim that the customer's behavior is a legal test within a certain range. -**No malicious consequences**: It is emphasized that the customer did not carry out any illegal use, dissemination or disclosure after obtaining the data, but fed back the problems found to the company in a timely manner to help it improve its security measures. ### 3. **Emphasize the positive effects of behavior** -**Improve company security**: Through customer behavior, the company can discover and repair potential security vulnerabilities, thereby avoiding more serious data leakage incidents that may occur in the future. The behavior of customers actually provides valuable services to the company. -**Industry standards and compliance**: It is pointed out that customer behavior complies with industry standards and best practices. Many companies are conducting similar safety tests to ensure that their systems comply with relevant laws, regulations and compliance requirements. ### 4. **Cite relevant laws and cases** -**Legal framework**: Reference to relevant legal provisions stating that under certain circumstances, actions for security testing purposes can be considered legal, especially if there are no malicious consequences and it helps to improve system security. -**Similar cases**: Similar cases are cited to indicate that in other cases, courts or related institutions have determined that similar acts are legal or will not be pursued. ### 5. **Propose settlement and remedial measures** -**Take the initiative to take responsibility**: If the customer's behavior does exceed the scope of the company's expectations, you can take the initiative to assume certain responsibilities and negotiate a settlement with the company to avoid further legal disputes. -**Make suggestions for improvement**: It is recommended that the company cooperate with customers to formulate clearer safety testing policies and processes to ensure that future testing behaviors are carried out within a legal and compliance framework. ### 6. **Emphasize the integrity and professional background of customers** -**Professional background**: If the customer has rich experience and a good reputation in the field of information security, he can emphasize the professionalism and integrity of his behavior, indicating that his behavior is to improve the company's security level, not for bad motives. -**Willingness to cooperate**: Express the customer's willingness to continue to cooperate with the company to help it further improve its information security level and avoid similar incidents in the future. ### Conclusion Through the above strategies, we can effectively defend our customers and prove that their behavior is to test the soundness of the company's protection measures for sensitive information, rather than illegally obtaining confidential data. The key lies in clarifying the customer's bona fide motives, proving the legitimacy of the behavior, emphasizing its positive impact, and proposing reasonable settlement and remedial measures.