We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
We have commenced work for a compensation action in light of the Charing Cross Clinic data leak that was announced last Friday.
We were approached immediately for advice and legal representation, and we have agreed to act for any victim who comes forward for our help on a No Win, No Fee basis.
This email leak was entirely avoidable, and is a tragic repeat of previous data leaks that were just as preventable. We have recovered tens of thousands of pounds in damages for victims of the similar 56 Dean Street Clinic email leak where many claims remain ongoing. That was also another case of an email sent to hundreds of people where the recipient list was visible to all other recipients.
We have been contacted for help as a result of the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic email leak that has reportedly affected almost 2,000 people.
We understand that two separate emails relating to an art competition were sent by the patient and public involvement team, with around 900 individuals CC’d into each email. This is a clear breach of the victims’ rights to privacy, and we will be taking action for anyone who has been affected.
As lawyers who are fighting for justice for victims of the 56 Dean Street Clinic leak, with tens of thousands of pounds in damages already recovered, we are committed to helping anyone who has been affected by this latest email leak.
There’s been yet another data leak that’s hit the social media giant. It’s reported that Facebook exposed telephone numbers for millions of users, including those in the UK.
This latest data leak comes after a long line of breaches and incidents that have plagued the social media giant over the last few years. It also comes after increased scrutiny from regulators around the world over things like their data sharing policies, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal still fresh on our minds.
Although Facebook appears to be trying to play down the scale of the leak, there’s no argument as to how serious this incident is.
A seriously concerning security flaw has been discovered which has reportedly allowed hackers to covertly put so-called monitoring implants in iPhones.
The vulnerability is said to have been discovered in January 2019, with Apple releasing a security patch in February 2019. It’s understood that Google’s external ‘white hat’ security team, known as Project Zero, are responsible for identifying the flaw.
There may be thousands upon thousands of people whose phones have been compromised in a way that could allow hackers to have had access to a disturbing wealth of information.
Official records from NHS Digital reportedly show an alarming number of NHS email cyber-attacks, with the healthcare service said to have been hit by over 11 million in the last three years.
The data for the number of attacks that were successfully blocked was at a staggering 11,352,000 in the last three years. Although we can be positive about the fact that these attacks are those that were successfully stopped, the figures show the significant number of attacks that are taking place, and how much of a target the public healthcare system is.
The NHS was one of the worst-hit victims of the 2017 WannaCry incident as well. With them being such a target, what can be done when successful cyber-attacks take place?
It’s understood that more arrests have been made in relation to the University of South Wales data incident that hit the news a few weeks ago.
There’s limited information about what exactly has happened, other than that an arrest had previously been made as part of ongoing investigations. This month, it’s understood that the police have made two further arrests in connection with the data breach.
Data protection in the education sector is incredibly important. Universities hold a wealth of personal and sensitive information about a large volume of people. It can include medical data and domestic information which is often required as part of meeting students’ individual needs.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a fine in the wake of a documentary that was filmed that led to the Addenbrooke’s Hospital data breach relating to patient consent.
London-based production company behind the filming, True Visions Productions (TVP), were fined £120,000.00 for unlawfully filming in a maternity clinic. As the incidents took place before GDPR, they have been fined in accordance with the previous rules where maximum fines could reach up to £500,000.00; unlike the recent record-setting fine of £183m issued to British Airways.
Filming took place between 24th July 2017 and 29th November 2017 and ceased following complaints received by the ICO. The ICO said: “A patient attending the clinic would not have reasonably expected there to be cameras in examination rooms and would expect to be made aware of any filming.”
With this week’s news focused on big GDPR fines for British Airways and Marriott, we can only assume that more fines are on the way.
Our lawyers are fighting for justice in over 25 different data breach group and multi-party actions. That shows just how many big legal cases we’ve taken forward, and some of the incidents took place after GDPR was introduced last year. The BA Group Action is one of those, and the initial fine of £183m shows just how serious the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is on punishing offenders.
With the likes of the Ticketmaster data breach and the Well Pharmacy incidents yet to involve penalties, we expect more big fines to be on the horizon.
Here’s a really quick guide about claiming compensation for a data breach in England and Wales, and how you can make use of our No Win, No Fee service.
Although claiming compensation for a data breach is a relatively new area of law, there have been a significant number of actions and individual cases we’ve taken forward. We’ve been fighting for the rights of victims of leaks, breaches and hacks for years, and thousands of people have come to us for our expert advice.
We’re fighting for justice in over 25 different group and multi-party actions, with our first one launched way back in 2015. Here’s a little information about how we may be able to help you.
Telford & Wrekin Council data breaches have hit the news again, after reports of three investigations into them last year by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
We wrote about one of them last year, which was a preventable incident where a member of staff had accidentally sent the wrong information to the wrong person. Two of the three investigated by the ICO were reportedly human error data breaches, with no further action taken against them. Human error incidents can be incredibly common in local authority data breach cases.
As lawyers, it’s important to address council data breaches, because they account for a significant proportion of the individual claims we take forward.
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