Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Wrongful access to medical records

Our medical records are private and often very sensitive. Only those who we allow should access our medical records, and there should always be a good and justifiable reason to do so.

Despite this rather obvious sentiment, wrongful or needless access, or use of, medical records remains a problem that we have had to help people claim for. It can sometimes be people we know who have access to our records and access them for wrongful means, or it could be someone accessing records to change them, or to use information from them for financial gain.

It happens, and we have helped people who have had to claim when their records have been unduly accessed.
read more

By Author

Can we trust The Cloud?

A huge amount of world data is stored in “the cloud.”

Cloud computing is where data and applications are remotely stored rather than being stored on your own premises. This can save on IT costs and speed up operations, but it does raise the question as to whether it is safe or not.

More public cloud platforms are offered by the likes of Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, and with so much information being stored in the cloud, can we trust that it is always safe?
read more

By Author

Brits not happy about companies using healthcare data

A large number of people are uncomfortable that commercial bodies are able to access their anonymised healthcare records, surveys have found.

Health charity the Wellcome Trust surveyed 2,000 participants and found that the majority (53%) of people were happy to have their data used by commercial organisations, but only for research. 60% would rather commercial research organisations had access to their health data so that society do not miss out on the benefits the company could produce.

However, there was a minority of people (17%) that completely objected to private companies having any access to their health data, which raised the suggestion that an opt-out option should be available for anyone who does not want their health data shared.

Only a quarter supported sharing anonymised health data with insurance companies in order to get better insurance prices, and 37% supporting it being shared for marketing health products.
read more

By Author

Sage Software firm suffers data breach

UK software company Sage has suffered a data breach which could have affected the personal information of employees at 280 businesses.

The breach is being investigated by the police, and Sage is looking into the unauthorised access of data where someone used an “internal” company computer login for access. It is unclear whether the information was stolen or simply looked at, but the incident allegedly took place nevertheless.
read more

By Author

Should banks spy on our monthly income?

A Competition Watchdog has announced earlier this month that banks should share customer’s data in order help them find the best deal.

This has caused concern for privacy campaigners as our financial data is already widely shared, stored, and available anyway through various public and private bodies.

Most consumers think credit reference agencies only collect and collate data about our repayments and loans – but companies are instead cashing in on our data and selling it on, which can include all our transactions; every last one! Even something as small as paying a friend back for a meal!
read more

By Author

Healthcare industry at the heart of most data breaches

Healthcare data breaches are the most common – which is unfortunate because of the sensitivity of the information that can often be leaked or hacked.

The NHS has a wealth of information about us. Due to how much information they have on us, data breaches by the NHS can be a major concern. One of the most frustrating things about NHS data leaks is that we are required to share so much of our personal information with them.

Unlike businesses, we arguably have more of an option to how much information we choose to share with them, when it comes to sharing information with the NHS, it’s more out of necessity – we share some of our most personal information with the healthcare industry.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) did a report on data security, and their findings highlighted just how frequent healthcare industry data breaches takes place.
read more

By Author

How vulnerable are Smart City transport systems to being hacked?

American photojournalist Lori Nichols was driving down the highway near Atlantic City close to midnight when she snapped a picture of a free standing temporary road sign. On the lit up road sign, instead of the normal “work ahead” or “slow down”, the sign instead read the word “poop”.

The sign had been like that for several hours. When she reported it to the police station in the morning, she was told other people had also called it in.

While the pranksters only wrote “poop” on the sign, it does raise the question as to how easy it was to gain access to an unlocked panel at the back of the sign. Instead of writing what they did, they could have written something that could have created an entirely different scenario. Something warning of a serious incident, or perhaps a threat that could have sparked a very different response…
read more

By Author

Health apps – could your data be breached?

Apps are being created all the time that allow people to monitor their health and fitness. By monitoring our health, it allows people to have a greater control on their life.

But are we exposing ourselves to data breaches when using these apps? How secure is our data really?
read more

By Author

Victim awarded £75,000 after police disclose her details without consent

A woman received a £75,000 settlement after Greater Manchester Police disclosed her personal information without her consent.

In 2014 the woman agreed that details of the domestic abuse she suffered from a former partner could be used in training sessions for officers and support agencies on the basis that her information would be anonymous.

It was later discovered, however, that her identity and medical history was disclosed in full. This was also disclosed to a wider audience. A recording of a 999 call was played as well, where she had called for help after an assault.
read more

By Author

NHS data breaches are often the biggest

Most people believe their personal information is safe in the hands of medical processionals – but data breaches by the NHS are at the top of the list in terms of how often they happen.

Due to the sensitivity of the information that we hand over to the NHS, it is very private and personal information that could be leaked. It is not the same with handing information over to businesses or companies in which we can choose what information we wish to share with them. We have no option but to share lots of personal information with the NHS which can make it even more of a problem when a data breach occurs.

So it’s concerning to hear that one of the biggest offenders of leaks and breaches within the UK is the NHS!
read more

By Author