Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

“Password protected… or are we?” – 43 million passwords in Last.fm hacking scandal

The hack of the music streaming platform, Last.fm, reportedly happened in March 2012, but it has taken a few years to uncover its true extent.

Earlier this month, an investigation found that a staggering figure of 43,570,999 user accounts had fallen victim to the hacking; a huge number.

In terms of how this stacks up with other hacks, it’s certainly up there with the volumes of people affected.
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Wrongful access to medical records

Our medical records are private and often very sensitive. Only those who we allow should access our medical records, and there should always be a good and justifiable reason to do so.

Despite this rather obvious sentiment, wrongful or needless access, or use of, medical records remains a problem that we have had to help people claim for. It can sometimes be people we know who have access to our records and access them for wrongful means, or it could be someone accessing records to change them, or to use information from them for financial gain.

It happens, and we have helped people who have had to claim when their records have been unduly accessed.
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Hacked webcam live streams 8 year old girl’s bedroom online

A mother in Houston, Texas, was unaware that the private webcam in her two eight year old daughter’s room, that was intended to keep an eye on the girls, had been hacked.

Live footage of the two girls was being streamed online for anyone to view.

The live stream had been online for thousands to view since July. It was only when another mother came across the feed and created a Facebook group for Houston mothers with screen shots of the girl’s bedroom online in order to find the mother.
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Brits not happy about companies using healthcare data

A large number of people are uncomfortable that commercial bodies are able to access their anonymised healthcare records, surveys have found.

Health charity the Wellcome Trust surveyed 2,000 participants and found that the majority (53%) of people were happy to have their data used by commercial organisations, but only for research. 60% would rather commercial research organisations had access to their health data so that society do not miss out on the benefits the company could produce.

However, there was a minority of people (17%) that completely objected to private companies having any access to their health data, which raised the suggestion that an opt-out option should be available for anyone who does not want their health data shared.

Only a quarter supported sharing anonymised health data with insurance companies in order to get better insurance prices, and 37% supporting it being shared for marketing health products.
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Healthcare industry at the heart of most data breaches

Healthcare data breaches are the most common – which is unfortunate because of the sensitivity of the information that can often be leaked or hacked.

The NHS has a wealth of information about us. Due to how much information they have on us, data breaches by the NHS can be a major concern. One of the most frustrating things about NHS data leaks is that we are required to share so much of our personal information with them.

Unlike businesses, we arguably have more of an option to how much information we choose to share with them, when it comes to sharing information with the NHS, it’s more out of necessity – we share some of our most personal information with the healthcare industry.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) did a report on data security, and their findings highlighted just how frequent healthcare industry data breaches takes place.
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Victim awarded £75,000 after police disclose her details without consent

A woman received a £75,000 settlement after Greater Manchester Police disclosed her personal information without her consent.

In 2014 the woman agreed that details of the domestic abuse she suffered from a former partner could be used in training sessions for officers and support agencies on the basis that her information would be anonymous.

It was later discovered, however, that her identity and medical history was disclosed in full. This was also disclosed to a wider audience. A recording of a 999 call was played as well, where she had called for help after an assault.
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Employees of Google, Samsung and Apple suffer data breach

Employee accounts of Google, Samsung, and Apple along with other tech firms have apparently had their accounts hacked.

This information comes from the Khronos website. Supposedly the hackers hacked into a forum that was often used by the developers for things such as game development. Others that are allegedly victims of the hack include Toshiba, Sony Ericsson, IBM, EA, Intel, Panasonic and VMWare.

More companies may have had employee accounts stolen as well.
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O2 Customer Information on sale on the “dark web”

Its been confirmed that O2 customer data has been found for sale on the dark web which experts believe the data came from a hack several years ago from a gaming website called XSplit.

The log-in details were stolen from XSplit and were then matched with a number of O2 accounts, allowing the hackers access to customer’s personal information. This is known as credential stuffing.

Despite being told not to, a large percentage of online users reuse the same login details for numerous sites, making them especially vulnerable to having their data hacked. The hackers accessed customer’s personal information such as phone numbers, emails, and date-of-birth. This is all personal information that can be used for fraudulent purposes.
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Ransomware breakthrough software: CryptoDrop!

Scientists in Florida have developed software to stop ransomware in its tracks, sources from the BBC have confirmed. According to reports, the software called “CryptoDrop” can detect malware and stop it in its tracks.

This is big news, especially for businesses who have reportedly lost millions in paying ransomware demands because it’s less costly just to pay up and move on as opposed to hours lost getting systems back online which cost organisations even more money.
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Can the police be trusted to handle our data securely?

Privacy rights campaigners, Big Brother Watch, have produced a damning insight in to the extent of data breaches committed by the police in the UK.

According to the report, 10 data breaches are committed every week, with some 2,315 being committed between June 2011 and December 2015.

In the wake of government calls for increasing powers for authorities to access private and personal information, the worry about data safety in the hands of the very people responsible for continual breaches is a cause for concern.
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