Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
A former candidate for Houghton Regis Town Council has been fined in a bizarre incident that led to a Bedfordshire Police data breach.
The former candidate had reportedly been arrested at his home when an officer left her netbook unattended with him. He then took a photo of the notebook and uploaded it online. He has been fined £200.00 and made to pay additional costs in the sum of £115.00.
This is certainly one of the more bizarre police data breach incidents we’ve ever come across before. It’s a prime example of just how easy it is for personal and potentially sensitive data to be breached and shared.
There are reportedly worrying numbers of Sandwell Council data breach incidents, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
We can’t say that we’re surprised. A huge number of the Claimants we represent are claiming for council data breach compensation. Of the thousands of people who have approached us for help over the years we’ve been fighting for data breach justice, a large proportion are claims involving local government services.
What’s further worrying is the fact that the nature of the data local councils and their agents hold is usually voluminous and can be incredibly personal and sensitive in nature.
A High Court Judge has criticised a “serious and significant” Greenwich Council data breach in an adoption case that was reportedly badly managed.
We’re highly experienced in council compensation claims involving social services. Claims against local government authorities are one of the most common types of claims we represent people for. This story doesn’t come as a surprise to us, although the nature of the breach is incredibly serious and should never have happened in the first place.
This particular Greenwich Council data breach highlights the severity of this kind of breach given the nature of the personal and sensitive data that public organisations hold.
The Scarborough Sixth Form data breach was another example of an email leak that was caused by a simple administrative error.
It happened in July last year, so it falls within the scope of the new GDPR legislation. The incident was referred to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) for investigation.
As alarming as an email leak sounds, it’s not an uncommon occurrence. We represent a number of people who have been involved in email data leaks, with the most prominent one being the 56 Dean Street Clinic leak of 2015. As easy as these things can happen, there’s no excuse for allowing it to happen at all.
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.
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 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 incredibly serious Wokingham Council data breach that came to light in the last few weeks was a severe example of how bad a council data breach can be.
This particular breach was said to be an error that’s among a number that had been identified with Wokingham Council. Councils and local authority agencies hold a great deal of incredibly personal and sensitive data about thousands of individuals. This includes vulnerable people and children.
As such, any council data breach can be severe. This latest Wokingham Council breach is one of the worst we’ve seen.
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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