The University of Greenwich Data Leaks – why people SHOULD be concerned about fraud and identity theft

Whilst we’re not here to bring doomsday style headlines, we are here to help and advise victims of data leaks; and now that we’re acting for individuals who have been a victim of the University of Greenwich data leak, we want to ensure that our advice to our clients extends to those considering asking us for help as well.

Data leak law is what we do – so for those who have been affected, our legal team have a stern warning about making sure you take steps to protect yourself in the wake of the University of Greenwich data leak.

The hackers and fraudsters are extremely clever…

Criminals who make money from hacks and leaked data often employ intelligent tactics to the way they make their money. Ransomware hackers can, for example, lock businesses out of their own systems and bribe them for the decryption keys. In many cases, it’s cheaper for a business to cough up the ransom than face prolonged downtime which costs them more money.

So, with this in mind, they often set the ransom fees based on their perception of what their victim is prepared and capable to pay; i.e. they don’t go over the top in what they ask for. In economics this is known as a person’s “propensity to pay” and it’s something that legitimate businesses use to price goods and services you and I buy all the time. On top of that, profits are often plunged back in to funding better ways of attacking businesses and perfecting their coding.

Many of them operate just like a business, and criminals who are capable of hacking data from the US government can be more than capable of making sure they can locate data online, even when it has been removed.

We’re told that the University of Greenwich acted quickly to take the information down for the affected students when the leak was discovered, but it only takes minutes for those clever enough to copy that data and use it in the future. We are also of the understanding that the information may have been readily available for years.

Again, we don’t want to scare people – but with us being experts in data leak law, we know a bit about how the criminals work and think. As such, those affected need to be very careful indeed.

What can our Data Leak Lawyers advise?

Our expertise is in the law for making claims for those affected by data leaks, so it is very worth your time contacting your bank for help anyway, and we strongly advise you do that. In addition:

On the fact that signatures were available, this is a tricky one. Changing signatures of course isn’t something you can readily do. The risk of future issues is a real concern.

Again, we’re not here to scare people, but we are here to comprehensively advise those who have been affected. At the end of the day we have very clear and specific data protection laws to stop people becoming victims of fraud and identity theft, as well as to protect our rights to privacy and confidentiality. The University of Greenwich, as a data controller who are responsible for the very personal and sensitive data of their students and staff, absolutely must ensure that they comply with the law.

On this occasion they have fallen grossly short of their expectations in allowing such personal and sensitive information to be broadcast online.

We’re acting for victims now

We have been instructed to act for victims of the leak, so please feel free to contact us for any expert help and advice you need. We are here to help.

How a simple name, telephone number, and customer or account number can be enough to get scammed

University of Greenwich – Data Leak Lawyers now instructed to act for victims