There was a recent Chartered Insurance Institute data breach that appears to have resulted in a small proportion of personal details being exposed in an unauthorised third-party access event.
Your Lawyers, as Leading Privacy Claims Specialists, are often contacted for help in the wake of a new data breach, and we have been approached for legal advice.
About the Chartered Insurance Institute data breach
The Chartered Insurance Institute data breach reportedly stemmed from an unauthorised access event from a third party that occurred in October. According to the CII, as soon as the issue was identified, immediate steps were taken to secure systems.
Investigations have been carried out to try to identify what information may have been affected. Unfortunately, the CII has confirmed that a limited amount of personal data in relation to customer records was accessed. Such data affected may have included the names of firms as well as addresses and email addresses, and telephone numbers and birth dates. In the grand scheme of things, this would look to be limited information, some of which may already be in the public domain.
Your Lawyers approached for legal help
Your Lawyers has already been asked for legal help in the wake of the Chartered Insurance Institute data breach, and we are investigating whether there may be potential claims for compensation. In accordance with the GDPR, anybody whose information has been misused or exposed could be entitled to recover compensation for any distress caused by the loss of control of their personal information. They may also be entitled to recover compensation for any losses and expenses, if these apply.
What we need to do with an incident such as the Chartered Insurance Institute data breach is identify whether there is a potential case to pursue. As things stand, given that it appears that limited information was affected, whether a case could be pursued or not may be based on individual circumstances of anybody who has been affected. There has been a breach, and it is now a case of looking at any impact on anybody who has been affected.
If we assess the impact and we consider that there could be a case to make, we may be able to represent people affected on a No Win, No Fee basis. The best thing to do is contact our team for free, no-obligation legal advice here now.
Impact of data breaches on those affected
In the wake of any data breaches, it is important to consider the impact on those who are affected, as this is something that can differ from person to person. You can have one breach incident involving many people where the same details are exposed but, for some people, the impact could be a lot more substantial.
It is all about the context of the breach and the nature of the requirement for privacy for those affected. For example, some people may not be too fussed if their name and email address is involved in a leak, whereas other people may specifically restrict access to such contact details for various reasons. When you consider people’s pasts and whether there is any reason that they require greater privacy, even contact details could cause significant distress.
When we consider new potential claims for compensation, we will often carry out an impact assessment to identify this. This helps us to understand whether there may be a case to pursue in accordance with the GDPR.