We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
If your medical data is hacked, we’re (unfortunately) not too surprised. A large volume of the cases we deal with are for healthcare sector breaches, and hackers do target the sector.
The reason hackers target the sector is often due to a lack of resources in cybersecurity. We saw in the 2017 WannaCry attack just how much damage a targeted attack can do. The hackers in this incident targeted outdated systems because they can be more vulnerable to being broken into. With the healthcare sector often using outdated systems, they were an easy target.
If your medical data is hacked, what can you do about it?
The recent Twickenham school data breach incidents in the news last month highlight the sorts of problems we face when it comes to data protection.
In these incidents, headteacher Darren Harrison was fined £700.00 and ordered to pay costs of £364.00, plus a victim surcharge of £35, for breaching data laws. He’d reportedly taken data from previous schools he’d worked at – Spelthorne Primary and Russell School – for, he says, professional reasons. He then uploaded the data on to the server of the school he’d then been employed with, Isleworth Town Primary School.
An IT audit discovered the movement of the data about the pupils. This kind of breach is not unique at all.
Victims of last year’s TV licensing data breach need to take care to avoid falling victim to phishing scams that are doing the rounds at the moment.
Victims of the TalkTalk data breach – one of the over 20 data breach actions we’re representing people in – were contacted after the breach. It appears that scammers had got hold of information that had been exposed in the breach. Victims of the TV licensing data breach should be wary of being contacted in the same way.
We know that phishing scams using the cover of TV licensing are doing the rounds. One victim lost £10,000.00 to scammers after they managed to convince him they were the real thing.
There has been a serious Swansea Council data breach that has affected vulnerable adults and children that was discovered in December 2018.
In this remarkable case, a diary was found on the side of the A48 road in Carmarthenshire. The diary contained personal and confidential information about vulnerable adults and children and is thought to belong to a Swansea Council employee.
It has yet to be determined how the diary ended up abandoned at the side of the road. What we know for certain is that proper care for sensitive data has not been upheld.
The Butlins data breach incident was one of many that hit the UK in 2018. As holidays are getting booked up in the post-Christmas period, data security may well be a concern for some.
We know from the recent Marriott data breach that passport data was compromised. The data that’s collected as part of booking holidays can be private and sensitive, and could leave victims at risk of fraudulent activity.
In the Butlins data breach of last year, it was personal information that appeared to have been exposed.
The York Council app that was hacked late last year has reportedly been shut down as a result of the data breach incident.
It’s understood that the public-facing aspect of the app is no longer available. Residents had been able to access it and use it as part of waste-reduction plans and for the improvement of their environmental performance.
After it was discovered that the app lacked the proper security to keep users’ data safe, the app has now been reportedly shut down and is no longer publicly-available.
If you’ve been victim of a Suffolk Council data breach, we may be able to help you; and you’re not alone either!
Recent data reportedly indicated that there has been an increase of around a third in terms of the number of reported Suffolk Council data breach incidents in 2018 when compared to 2017. Suffolk Council has suggested that this could be because of the new GDPR that came into force last year. They’ve also suggested it could be due to greater awareness from staff, meaning more breaches are being reported.
But that doesn’t mean that those breaches haven’t been taking place. With council data breaches being one of the most common cases we help people with, we can’t say we’re surprised by this latest report.
The Marriott data breach UK action for compensation may grow as revelations about unencrypted passport numbers being exposed hit the media.
We know there were some 500m records reportedly exposed in the huge Marriot data breach. As investigations into the breach continue, more information has come to light about the extent and the nature of the data that was exposed.
Some of the information potentially compromised in the breach could leave people at an imminent risk of fraudulent activity.
The No Win, No Fee Equifax data breach compensation action we launched in 2017 is still going strong, and we’re still accepting new cases.
If you’ve yet to sign-up for an Equifax data breach claim, have a read of our advice and get the case started as soon as you can.
In terms of where we are with the cases, we’re continuing to act for a large group of victims claiming for data breach compensation. The legal action is still ongoing, but with the action now being live since 2017, we’re urging anyone who has yet to join to do so ASAP.
The Chelmsford City Council data breach was another preventable incident of information exposure by a local authority that has affected thousands of people.
Personal information that was submitted using online forms was accidentally left visible on the website. There’s no way of knowing for sure if the information exposed was used or copied, leaving victims with a lack of closure over the incident.
More than 6,500 people that were affected by the breach have been informed by email that their data has been exposed.
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