We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
As Gatwick Airport has been brought to a standstill over drones accessing the airfield, now is the time we need to talk about drone hacking.
We’ve highlighted this before, but given the news this week, it’s time to bring it up again. If cars can be hacked, so can drones. If smart tech in the home can be hacked, so can drones. If these things can be used to harm people – physically or financially – so can drones. They’re remote-controlled which means a huge door is there to be opened. There also incredibly easy to buy, and hackers have already demonstrated how easy it is to take control of another drone by hacking.
If there’s technology good enough to bring one of the UK’s biggest airports to a standstill, drone hacking is a serious concern.
An Amazon data breach incident took place in the lead up to the big Black Friday sales a few weeks ago.
The incident reportedly stemmed from a technical problem.
In the data protection breach, customer names and email addresses were inadvertently posted on the company’s website. They were removed upon discovery of the error, and customers affected by the data breach have been informed.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is said to be looking into the situation.
We’ve seen some worrying Birmingham Hospital data breach figures off the back of recent data released about NHS data incidents.
Birmingham Hospital sits at the top of the pile for 2017 data losses and thefts. According to a Freedom of Information request, some 10,000 documents went missing or were stolen in 2017 within the NHS. Over 3,000 of those were from Birmingham Hospital alone.
The figure of 10,000 missing or stolen documents is a horrendous amount. How can so many documents go missing when they’re likely to contain very sensitive and private information?
The recent East Lindsey Council data breach was another example of a totally avoidable incident that resulted in sensitive information being exposed.
Our lawyers are often representing victims for council data breach cases. This includes for claims against local authority agencies and outsourced third-parties as well.
Public sector breaches can be common, and council data breaches are amongst the most frequent we see. As is the case with the East Lindsey Council data breach, many of the incidents are totally avoidable. Many stem from simple errors that can have costly consequences.
The most famous LinkedIn data breach stems from the 2012 hack that took years to come to light. But since then, there has reportedly been others.
There has reportedly been several other data breaches with connections to the Microsoft-owned networking site for professionals. But this latest LinkedIn data breach arises from the way some 18 million people’s email addresses have reportedly been used for targeted Facebook ads.
According to recent investigations, this is yet another data breach involving LinkedIn.
The Plusnet data breach that was revealed in September 2018 was another example of a system update that went horribly wrong.
During the process of the internet provider updating its billing system, a data breach incident occurred. The issue led to a number of customers being able to view the personal data for other customers instead of their own.
The Plusnet data breach is practically the same as the huge TSB bank software issue from earlier this year. When they updated their systems, customers were able to see the banking details for other customer. Some were even able to transfer money and make payments.
Former GP Dr Thair Altaii was found guilty of voyeurism at Newcastle Crown Court earlier this year. Over 19,000 images of women were found in his possession.
The 55-year-old former “trusted family doctor” was caught with the images and video footage after a patient raised concerns about being recorded. During her appointment, she’d noticed two mobile phones propped up; one facing a chair, and the other facing the examination table. Police were informed, and after Dr Altaii initially denied having any such material in his possession after arrest, a shocking discovery was later found when his laptop was seized.
Here, we’ll look at this in terms of legal advice for a data protection claim.
There are suggestions that mobile phone data protection is lagging behind as a result of security immaturity and attitudes toward mobile safety.
The smartphone industry in particular has grown exponentially in recent years, and with more than half of the internet’s traffic thought to be on mobile devices, and with mobile apps springing up all the time, some experts are concerned at the lack of maturity mobile phone data protection has when compared to desktop protection.
Does security and attitudes need to change?
The recent Booking.com WhatsApp and text fraud operation showed precisely what criminals can do with enough data at their disposal.
According to the media reports in the aftermath of the Booking.com WhatsApp and text issue, criminals were looking to reap hundreds of thousands of pounds in ill-gotten gains by duping people into thinking they were Booking.com by using personalised messages that were said to have looked genuine, and included personal data.
Some people reportedly fell for the scam and lost money as a result, and we understand that Booking.com has committed to compensating victims.
Profits are set to fall in the wake of the Dixons Carphone cyber-attack. A sharp fall in profits is expected after news of the massive cyber-attack that exposed some 5.9 million credit and debit card details, and some 1.2 million personal data records.
Some reports have indicated the fall in profits may be as much as 23pc.
The Dixons Carphone cyber-attack apparently took place last year, yet it has taken them almost a year for the news to be revealed; a matter that they will no doubt face further criticism for.
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