Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

The Equifax data breach post-mortem was a wake-up call

The recent Equifax data breach ‘post-mortem’ that was completed, after a full overhaul and review of exactly what had happened was, a wake-up call, Data Leak Lawyers say.

Many people didn’t even know that Equifax had their data because it had been passed on to them as part of credit referencing checks, meaning a lot of people were surprised when they received the letter notifying them that they had been affected by the breach.

The final information about exactly what was exposed in the monumental hack that broke in the news last year served as a stark reminder about the vulnerability of personal data and was a wake-up call in terms of the scale and severity of the breach.

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The scary revelations over the information exposed in the Equifax data breach

The scary revelations over the information exposed in the Equifax data breach has come to light.

Not only has it transpired that the Equifax data breach was far worse than originally thought in terms of numbers of people affected, but the full extent of what has been breached – and what volumes are involved – has also now been identified.

It makes for scary reading to see the extent to the personal and sensitive information that has been exposed by the Equifax data breach scandal.

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Is enough being done to protect against retail data breaches?

Is enough being done to protect against retail data breaches?

If you look at some of the recent big data breaches involving the likes of Facebook and retailer Under Armour, the impact on them as a businesses has been comparatively small.

People still use Facebook, and people still use Under Armour products, with the latter seeing only a small drop in share value, according to reports. People still need (or want) to use the services that are at the centre of big data breaches, so we need to look at making sure that appropriate punishments are issued to stop retail data breaches happening again.

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Equifax counts the cost of monumental data breach

As Equifax counts the cost of the monumental data breach they suffered last year, we’re left wondering why they hadn’t spent enough money on ensuring the data they hold was safe and secure in the first place…

Too many organisations are reactive instead of proactive; only ever spending what they need to when a data breach actually happens.

So far, Equifax is said to have spent around £175m on dealing with the data breach, of which £91m of that was insured. The costs have dealt with the general expenses, IT improvements, and we assume the fines and claims against them, of which our claims will need to be factored into that.

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Are victims of the Equifax data breach being looked after properly?

Are victims of the Equifax data breach being looked after properly? Some data suggests they’re not, and with an estimated 700,000 UK victims of the breach, Equifax must do as much as they can to ensure they look after the victims.

We are representing a large group of individuals who were affected by the breach, so if you are looking for advice about making a claim, we can help.

With personal and sensitive data compromised in a data breach, it’s imperative that victims are properly looked after by the organisation responsible for the breach. Are Equifax doing enough in this case?
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Victims of Equifax data breach receiving letters containing incorrect personal data

A number of victims of the Equifax data breach have been receiving letters containing incorrect personal data, according to media reports; further exacerbating the massive data breach that has affected some 700,000 people in the UK alone.

According to Equifax, determining the best addresses for some victims had been “complex” and had resulted in letters being sent out that are thoughts to have contained erroneous information.

As time has passed, the Equifax data breach seems to have worsened and worsened, and this is yet another problem adding to the pile.

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Council data protection breaches: a common problem

Council data protection breaches are a common problem, so if you have been the victim of a breach or leak caused by your local council, you’re one of many.

You have rights to be able to claim for data breach compensation, whether the council has directly breached data laws, or where a local authority outsourced company has breached the law instead.

We advise and represent a lot of people for council data leaks and data breaches because the root problems as to why they are so common have yet to be resolved.
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Wigan Council at centre of alarming number of data protection breaches

According to data gleaned from a Freedom of Information request, as reported by Wigan Today, there have been a concerning number of data breaches involving Wigan Council where information of a confidential, sensitive, or protected nature has been accessed or disclosed “in an unauthorised fashion”.

Councils and private companies who local authority agencies outsource work to are high on the list when it comes to data protection breaches, and we advise and represent a large number of people claiming for data protection compensation as a result of a council data breach.

Unfortunately, this news does not come as a surprise to us.
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Compensation claim launched against Lovense app over allegations of secretly collecting intimate usage data

We have blogged about this before, but here is an update about a case that has been launched. As a reminder, we are acting for a large number of people claiming for the We-Vibe data breach scandal when it was discovered that the sex-toy software was secretly collecting information about the use of the product that they were not entitled to. Not only that, but hackers were reportedly able to break into the associated app and essentially “control” the device.

Now, there is a new legal case for a different remote sex-toy that is allegedly collecting user data secretly as well. According to papers already filed in a legal case, Lovense, a division of Hong Kong-based Hytto Ltd, is collecting and recording the intimate data of the users of their products.
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Is council data protection and cybersecurity quality a postcode lottery?

Experts have looked in to the differences between councils and local authority services and compared the quality of the cybersecurity and their data protection procedures and protocols. One worrying trend is the fact that there are some huge differences between different councils when it comes to practically all aspects of data security.

This issue means that, in reality, the quality of data protection and cybersecurity can be somewhat of a postcode lottery. There is no single or uniform approach, which is a really worrying aspect.
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