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.
Confidential document disposal is a matter that all organisations – both public and private – must take seriously to avoid a data breach incident. But we know things don’t always get done properly as they ought to, and that’s where we come in.
Important data protection laws – including GDPR that came into force this time last year – encompass the handling, and therefore destruction, of data. Confidential documents must not be binned with other general waste because it may lead to a significant data breach. Confidential waste should always be disposed of in a way that ensures information will not be leaked.
If you’re the victim of a data breach that’s caused by a confidential document disposal failure, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
Questions have been raised over health apps data security, as research indicates that some apps may be leaking data and sharing information without users really knowing about it.
Recent studies indicated that many health apps are sharing information with dozens of companies, including to marketing companies and digital advertising firms. Questions have been raised over whether the privacy policies for these apps are clear enough in explaining just how far the data they collect and share goes.
At the end of the day, when you download a health app, it’s for your personal use for monitoring your wellbeing or tracking your medication intake, as examples. Is it really fair to expect that your data will then be shared far and wide, and passed to companies for marketing purposes?
If you need legal advice about healthcare cybersecurity breaches, and you want to know more about claiming data breach compensation, we can help you.
We can offer No Win, No Fee arrangements for healthcare data breach compensation claims. With the healthcare sector often leading the way in terms of the volumes of breaches, we already represent a large number of victims claiming for incidents in this sector.
And research indicates that it’s getting worse and is possibly set to get even worse in the future as well. For the victims, it’s important to know your rights.
There are huge risks when it comes to Healthcare staff data breach incidents. A large volume of the data breach cases we take forward involve the healthcare sector.
That’s why we’re not surprised that a recent study suggested that more than half of data breach incidents in the healthcare industry are reportedly caused by staff themselves. Whether it’s a direct human error that has led to a breach, or staff abusing their powers, it’s the employees themselves that remain such a huge risk for organisations.
Even hacks and cyber attacks can be linked back to staff as well. An easy example is staff falling victim to phishing scams and their user credentials being compromised and then abused by criminals.
The Hollybrook Medical Centre data breach is another example of an employee (or former employee in this case) who has abused their rights of access to data.
In this case, former GP Practice Manager, Shamim Sadiq, was suspended and dismissed on unrelated matters from the Hollybrook Medical Centre in November 2017. The day after the suspension came into force, Sadiq reportedly accessed her work email account and committed a data breach by sending information to her personal email address.
The reason she was able to still access the account was because she was also employed as an advisor for the Care Quality Commission. She therefore still had access to her NHS email account.
There has been a Heart of England NHS data breach incident, and it’s yet another case of an NHS employee snooping on the personal data of people they know.
We’ve spoken out about the issue of NHS employees abusing their rights to access medical data a lot recently. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – the UK’s data watchdog – has prosecuted a number of offenders for such actions. They’ve also had to send out warnings to staff about their responsibilities and the punishments they can face when it comes to this kind of behaviour.
A large volume of the cases we represent people for are NHS data breach compensation claims, so hearing of these kinds of incidents isn’t surprising.
An issue that has led to a number of NHS fax data breach incidents has been reported, after mix-ups with a similar fax number has led to information going astray.
NHS data breach compensation cases are some of the more common types of claims our expert team help people with. A lot of the data breaches are caused by such simple errors that can be easily avoided. Despite this, they happen way too frequently.
The news of the fax mix ups is another example of this and comes to light after the accidental recipients of the data contacted NHS England about the incidents.
The NHS fax data breach issue reportedly stems from GP surgeries and pharmacies accidentally sending data to the wrong number. The number they have been sending information to in some cases belongs to a hotel group who has then been receiving the faxes incorrectly.
Some of the data that has been sent to the wrong fax number includes medication requests, certificates and dispensing vouchers.
It’s understood that the fax number for the hotel group is similar to the ones used to send information within the healthcare system. The hotel group has notified the Corporate Information Governance Team for NHS England.
As a result of these NHS fax data breach issues, NHS England has reportedly reminded GP surgeries and pharmacies about the importance of checking numbers. As some have recently called for a move away from faxes and pagers within the NHS, it’s claimed that this fax system is apparently the only way of sending this data within the healthcare system.
It sounds like something needs to change.
Any medical data breach can cause a huge amount of distress to the victims. When we see these simple errors over incredibly personal and sensitive data, it’s clear to us that more needs to be done.
As a firm of lawyers who specialise in data leak cases, we know how bad a breach can be for the victim. It’s important for these simple and avoidable data breaches are stamped out.
A serious Stafford Hospital data breach has been reported, and it’s another simple and avoidable error that has led to private and sensitive data being leaked.
Our lawyers represent a lot of people who are claiming NHS data breach compensation. The reason for this is that healthcare data leaks and breaches can be incredibly common. A lot of the breaches happen so easily, and are totally avoidable. Despite this, healthcare data breaches continue to happen at alarming rates.
The recent Stafford Hospital data breach incident is a story that’s all too familiar for our team here who are helping victims claim for incidents just like it.
NHS England has ruled in an investigation into a Worcester GP data breach after previous findings suggested that the law had not been broken.
In this unusual case, the Severn Valley Medical Practice reportedly posted information online about a patient. Initially, the Practice is understood to have disputed that any data protection breach had occurred. Since then, NHS England and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) both agree that the incident was a failure to comply with data protection obligations.
Another element that makes this case unusual is about allegations made surrounding the Data Protection Officer (DPO) who reportedly claimed there wasn’t a breach in the first place.
It’s true that there’s an issue with hackers selling stolen medical records, normally on the dark web. The problems this can cause for victims can be huge.
Some people may not even be aware that their medical data has been stolen. Even the organisation(s) the data has been stolen from may not (yet) even be aware. Some victims of medical record hacks find out because of an instance of online exposure, or even successful or attempted cases of identity theft.
Claims for medical data breach compensation are some of the most common types of cases we deal with. The healthcare sector is a target, so know your rights if you end up being the victim of hackers selling stolen medical records related to you.
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