Notification in information security is the delivery of an alert about a security event, required action, system change, or confirmed incident. Notifications may target security teams, administrators, users, regulators, or affected individuals and can use email, messaging, phone, or monitoring dashboards. The term covers both automated technical alerts and formal communications about incidents or privacy impact.
Notifications support detection and incident response by directing people to investigate, contain, or remediate a problem. Their security depends on trustworthy event sources, authenticated delivery channels, clear severity and ownership, and records showing when messages were sent and acknowledged. Attackers may spoof alerts, interfere with delivery, or exploit exposed notification content; poorly tuned systems can also create alert overload that obscures important events. Notifications involving personal data should disclose only necessary information, while external incident notices must meet applicable legal deadlines and accurately describe known effects without overstating unconfirmed facts.