Excellent post. And stated in generic enough terms to be applicable in a variety of scenarios. I have seen this play out when a partner of an ex-company had to deal with fallout of strategic plans of a financial major that had accidentally leaked out. The method was to acknowledge issue with client, cause analysis, negotiate/discuss remedial measures, communicate process changes to prevent similar issues in future with client and finally follow up to ensure things are as they should be. - Mahesh CR

Precisely, there is a process to damage mitigation and "ignoring the problem" is not part of it. If you handle something with tact and precision, you are far better off than letting it fester. This is doubly true on the web. - Steve Spalding