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.
For many businesses, so much of the work is conducted digitally, a fact that has only become truer since Covid-19 provoked a shift to more remote, online working. However, despite devoting significant expenses to IT resources, some businesses still fail to pay attention to data protection procedures and the tools required to operate their devices securely. From the small start-ups to the global conglomerates, all businesses need proper cybersecurity if they are to be trusted with personal data.
In the headlines, we regularly see data breaches that have occurred as a result of minor, needless oversights. With appropriate data protection and cybersecurity measures, many data security incidents can be avoided, so it is important that we hold businesses accountable when they fail to meet the standards required.
If you have been affected by a data breach for which a third-party organisation was responsible, you could be eligible to hold them to account via a data breach compensation claim. We know how damaging the effects of data exposure can be, which is why we aim to help as many victims to claim as possible.
Recent statistics revealed that there were over 2,300 police data breaches in 2020, according to figures on the number of incidents reported to the ICO. The high figure raises questions about how effectively the force is managing data protection risks and ensuring the cybersecurity of its systems, and whether similar statistics may emerge for the 2021 period which is shortly due to end.
These statistics are particularly concerning given the often extremely sensitive nature of the information held by the police, which can include personal details of crime witnesses and victims. Everyone who discloses personal information to the police should have the right to do so in the knowledge that it will be kept secure and only viewed for specific investigation or work-related purposes. However, there are many unfortunate cases in which people have been let down by the organisation that is supposed to protect them.
If you have been affected by a police data breach, you may be eligible for a compensation claim. Our expert lawyers can offer free, no-obligation advice on your case.
Hospital staff accessing medical records without any good reason to do so can amount to a serious breach of patient privacy and can allow victims to claim medical data breach compensation.
Any form of inappropriate access to confidential medical data can amount to an abuse of access rights and a breach of the GDPR. Those who have lost control of their personal information arising from such an incident could be eligible to pursue No Win, No Fee data breach claims.
Your Lawyers – The Data Leak Lawyers – are leading privacy claims experts, representing thousands of victims for data cases. We have secured damages for victims who have suffered from such data breach events, and our team is on hand to help anyone affected by an incident of this nature.
Usually run by local councils, social services hold large quantities of sensitive information about the people under their care. The private nature of the work they carry out means that they are required to keep to strict standards of confidentiality. If they fail to do so, perhaps if a social worker leaked information or failed to keep data secure, they may be in breach of data protection law.
Whether they are children in foster care, people with disabilities, or elderly residents of council care homes, there are thousands of people in the UK who have some form of care provided by their local authority. The integrity of social workers is generally taken for granted but there can, unfortunately, be individuals who let the good name of their profession down.
Their actions may have been accidental or intentional, but in either case, a social worker should be held accountable if they have compromised your right to privacy. By making a compensation claim, you can ensure that you achieve the justice you deserve.
Data breaches come with a range of different security risks, some of which can make victims vulnerable to financial loss. When a data breach exposes customer billing information, this risk can be even more pronounced, as the details could give cybercriminals direct access to credit cards or bank accounts.
As such, it is highly important that companies store customer payment information securely, and only retain details where absolutely necessary, or where the customer has given express permission for the data to be recorded. If they fail in any of these duties, they could be at fault should an unauthorised third party gain access to this information.
If you have had any payment information exposed in a data breach, you will probably know how stressful it can be to have the threat of financial crime looming over you. While it can be hard to trace the perpetrators of online theft and fraud, it is not as difficult to punish the data controller responsible for exposing your information. A data breach compensation claim can give victims the opportunity to see that justice is done.
With data breaches gaining traction in recent times, many people could be becoming wary of disclosing their data to businesses and organisations, and some may be concerned about what that they can do in the event of a data breach. Your Lawyers, as leading specialists in data breach claims and consumer group actions, are passionate about widening access to justice. This is why want to give you a brief data breach compensation pay-out guide to demonstrate what can be achieved by asserting your legal rights.
In accordance with UK law, all third parties that process, handle or store information relating to their customers, employees or other consumers are obliged to protect it in accordance with the GDPR. This involves ensuring that appropriate data protection procedure is followed by staff, and that there are sufficient cybersecurity defences in place to block potential hackers.
As a result, data controllers can fall foul of the law if they expose or compromise information through their own negligence. If you have been the victim of breach of data protection law, you could be eligible to claim compensation for any harm caused. Read on or contact us to find out more about your potential data breach claim.
The Cabinet Office has been issued with a penalty in the sum of £500,000 for the 2020 New Year Honours data breach, an incident that we have resolved legal action for.
The fine has been issued by the UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is intended to act as a punishment for what has happened. Such penalties can also act as a deterrent against future events.
We are pleased to see that regulatory action has now concluded. The fine is a separate matter to private legal action that victims of the data leak can be entitled to pursue. We have already resolved legal action that we have taken, having been instructed to act in the wake of the event, and this fine further cements that victims could be entitled to pursue a claim for compensation.
The civil service spreads across a number of different departments, and handles a large amount of sensitive information. With the responsibility of processing, handling and storing such private data, we would expect the civil service to ensure that such data remains secure. Instead, there have been a number of civil service data breaches in recent years which indicates that these government departments may need to improve their data protection strategies.
In accordance with UK data protection law, all organisations in possession of information must protect it from exposure with appropriate procedures and cybersecurity measures. If they fail to do so, they could be deemed to have broken the law, and may face sanctions or penalties.
But also, if you have been affected by a data breach, you could be eligible to claim compensation for any harm caused. Even the civil service is not exempt from data protection law, so come to us for free, no-obligation advice if you think you may have a compensation claim to make.
It may be the most wonderful time of the year for all the right reasons, but the festive season, and the weeks leading up to it, can be a hotbed for privacy events that could entitle you to pursue a retail data breach claim.
Unfortunately, hackers and scammers do exploit this time of the year when they know that retailers will often be very busy, and when they know that online shopping can reach its peaks. It is the ideal time for criminals to exploit people, and a successful cyberattack could see thousands – even millions – of people affected. As such, we all need to be careful, and we all need to watch out for hackers and scammers.
Educational institutions have been targeted by cyberattacks with increasing frequency in the past few months, so the risk to the private information that is held by schools appears to be pronounced. In this climate of hacks and ransomware, it is important that high schools are doing everything they possibly can to protect the sensitive information of students, staff and parents, or there could be an increasing number of high school data breaches.
All schools hold a wealth of information about their pupils, from home addresses to medical information. It is important that teachers can access these details when necessary for the purposes of safeguarding and student welfare, but this also means that schools have an obligation to manage and process this information securely.
If you or your child has been affected by a high school data breach, you may be eligible to make a data breach claim for any harm caused. Where schools are responsible for the exposure of private information, they must be held accountable. Claiming compensation can be a route to ensuring that justice is achieved.
EasyJet admits data of nine million hacked
British Airways data breach: How to claim up to £6,000 compensation
Are you owed £5,000 for the Virgin Media data breach?
Virgin Media faces £4.5 BILLION in compensation payouts
BA customers given final deadline to claim compensation for data breach
Shoppers slam Morrisons after loyalty points stolen
Half a million customers can sue BA over huge data breach
Lawyers accuse BA of 'swerving responsibility' for data breach
The biggest data breaches of 2020
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