Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Lessons learned: the university that came under fire for leaking sensitive and confidential data on its students

The University of East Anglia (UEA) was met with anger and disappointment from students and the general public when it was revealed that a member of staff made a horrific error when they sent out a spreadsheet listing named students’ extenuating circumstances. The spreadsheet identified some 40 students by name and student ID numbers, and had their private and confidential information right next to their names.

The spreadsheet showed which students were entitled to things like longer deadlines as their extenuating circumstances included personal matters such as family illnesses and bereavements; mental health problems, including depression; and even sexual assaults.
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Equifax hit by colossal class action after data breach victims suffer financial fraud

According to multiple sources, a significant number of Equifax customers have been targeted by criminals after their personal information was stolen in the massive Equifax breach. Unwilling to take the hit for Equifax’s incompetence and negligence, many are bringing a major class action claim in the U.S. to recover their losses.

We’re representing a large number of people who have come forward to seek compensation for the Equifax breach here in the U.K. as well. We firmly believe that victims should be entitled to compensation in a case of this nature.
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U.S. Supreme Court may be leaning towards increasing digital data protection; and the U.K. should follow

The Supreme Court justices were engaged in a lively debate over whether the government and law enforcement should be able to access huge amounts of digital data without a warrant. A majority of those involved in the debate appeared to agree that it would be very concerning and goes against data protection rules.

The U.S. Fourth amendment was mentioned a few times, citing an individual’s right to be protected from, “unreasonable searches and seizures by the government”. However, the key element here is whether a search is reasonable or unreasonable.
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Analysts expect Equifax to spend 2018 dealing with the aftermath of their huge data breach

Equifax’s recovery could be long and arduous after the gigantic data breach that saw around 143 million people have their confidential and personal information exposed.

Following the company’s attempts to clean up the mess, some believe that it may take much longer than expected to recuperate from the fallout of the breach. Unsurprisingly, one of the firm’s first actions was to follow the customary move of firing the CEO (with a cushy multi-million pension to boot) and hire a new one to take charge and sort out the problem. But when new CEO Paulino do Regos Barros Jr. was asked in a recent interview whether consumer data was now encrypted, many cringed when he was stumped and admitted: “I don’t know at this stage”.

Not the best start…
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The Hyatt Hotel breaches – a painful recovery story after multiple data breaches

We hear about data breaches all the time, and we see the reactions by offending companies as they try to provide what may appear to be “politically-drafted” apologies to the thousands of victims they have potentially harmed.

But what about on the long run? How does a company repair the broken trust, confidence and loyalty of their consumers?

For a hotel, the recovery can be even more painful: as we’ll see in the example of the Hyatt Hotel breaches.
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There’s a reported shortage of cybersecurity specialists to protect organisations from breaches

The number of breaches are on the rise and they’re set to continue to rise due to an apparent shortage of experts trained in cybersecurity.

The Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) teamed-up with IT firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) to produce a report on cybersecurity. Released one year after their first one, the report depicts a problem that is getting worse.

And we should all be very, very concerned about it…
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Organisations reportedly still not doing enough to prevent data breaches…

Many organisations are still only reacting to data breaches when they hit the news; but why aren’t they doing more to prevent data breaches and stop them from happening in the first place?

Each time a breach happens, real people and real lives are often affected. Organisations are not always seeing how a data breach can have huge psychological impact on the victims that can cause lasting harm and financial losses, and cause huge financial loss to the organisations themselves.

Will the attitude toward data security ever change?
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Are data breaches inevitable?

Judging by the huge increase in data breaches and numbers of records compromised over the last few years, there’s an argument to say that breaches have become inevitable…

Equifax has been one of the most talked-about companies in recent times for the huge data breach that saw 143 million people in the U.K., U.S. and Canada have their personal data security compromised.

The major credit-reporting agency is even used by some government authorities, and with such a high-profile case involving an international organisation that should be at the forefront of cybersecurity, it stands to reason that there is a basis for the argument that data breaches are inevitable.
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Should corporate data breach victims be allowed to force compensation?

Consumer organisation Which? thinks so.

The not-for-profit charity is calling on the government to consider the protections and rights afforded to data breach victims. As the EU General Data Protection Regulation looms ever closer, Parliament has been debating the Data Protection Bill and what rights and responsibilities should be included.

Which? believes that consumers should be adequately protected when corporations neglect and fail in their data protection responsibilities in efforts to attempt to maximise profits and expand their businesses.
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Is it more cost effective to pay for cybersecurity or the aftermath of a data breach?

It should always be the case that cybersecurity is more important; hands down.

After suffering a data breach, organisations face all sorts of financial losses, including penalty fines for not complying with data protection obligations; or claims brought by data victims for compensation; and loss of profits as shares drop and customers turn away from them. Data breaches can have a huge impact on consumer confidence – a cost that can’t always be calculated so easily.

Prevention should always come ahead of dealing with an aftermath that could have been averted in the first place!
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