Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Thwarting data breaches is an everyday mission for IT Managers

Data security provider WinMagic conducted a study that found one in four IT managers attempt to stop a data breach every single day and that almost half of all employees believed that IT security was solely the responsibility of the IT department. Only 37% believe they play a role in IT security – two very alarming statistics.

The study found that a quarter of IT managers believe that, whilst hackers are the biggest security risk to organisations, the next biggest security risk was in fact employees. This is further enforced by the report that found a third of IT managers only want certain employees that have been given clearance to use personal devices.

This is not surprising when 17% of employees admit that they would open an attachment from an unknown sender.

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DARPA launches Cyber Grand Challenge for next generation software

The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an investor in breakthrough technologies, looks set on its next great Cyber Grand Challenge of developing software that is able to spot and protect vulnerabilities in programmes before hackers are even aware they are there.

Due to the complexity of modern software, and given there is a need for quick fixes as more and more devices are connected to the internet become available, all of these devices will be used in vast quantities will not be able to have a sufficient defences against threats. This is the Cyber Grand Challenge that DARPA is taking on – to stop hackers in their tracks before vulnerabilities even come to light!
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Wireless keyboards – are they safe from hackers?

For those of us who have invested in a wireless keyboard, this blog, might be a bit concerning as recent reports have suggested that they could be vulnerable to hackers who are able to see every word typed from hundreds of feet away.

First some good news : Bluetooth Wireless keyboards are generally encrypted, so anyone trying to intercept what was being transmitted from the keyboard to the computer would be unable to decipher it.

Now, the not-so-good news : However, in an investigation that was carried out by cyber security company Bastille, they found that hackers could clearly intercept everything that was being typed on certain low-cost wireless keyboards.

You really don’t need me to let you know that unencrypted wireless keyboards may allow hackers access to passwords, bank details, and anything else typed.
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SwiftKey ‘glitch’ a potential data leak?

SwiftKey is a device for both IOS and Android systems such like smart phones and tablets. It has a database that stores commonly used words and phrases used by the owner. When the user is typing, SwiftKey can offer suggestions on what words to use. This can include things like email addresses, names, and phone numbers commonly used.

Last week it was reported that users of SwiftKey had been experiencing problems when using the keyboard. Users of the keyboard reported that they were receiving other people’s suggestions, which also included personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, and names. There were also reports of word suggestions in different languages that users had not used before.
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New online portal offers help against ransomware attacks

Ransomware is software that blocks users having access to their computer system until a sum of money is paid. Ransomware helps to facilitate the evolution of cybercrime as it often funds more advanced types of cyber-crime software that can also be sold on to other cyber-criminals… Allowing for more cyber-attacks to happen.

The advice has been and still remains “do not pay the ransom”, if you do fall victim to hackers – by people paying the ransom they continue to fuel a vicious cybercrime circle. Even though people do pay, there is also no guarantee that people will regain access to their computer system.
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Local Government data leaks – a common problem

Our local governments hold a wealth of information about us.

Due to how much information they have on us, data breaches from local government organisations can be a major concern. One of the most frustrating things about local government data leaks is that we are required to share so much of our personal information with them that it makes even small vulnerabilities a huge problem.

Unlike businesses, where we arguably have more of an option when it comes to how much of our personal information we chose to share with them,  when it comes to sharing information with our government, it is often a necessity, and can be some of our most personal information indeed.

As we hand over more and more personal data, we expect it to be kept secure – but this is not always the case.
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Lightify app vulnerability puts users at risk of being hacked?

It has been discovered that internet connected light bulbs, produced by the company Osram, have multiple flaws that could allow hackers to access home Wi-Fi networks and not only potentially operate lights without permission, but give the hackers access to other devices that use the Wi-Fi network such as game consoles or Smart TV’s etc.
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Company uses public electronic communications service to make unsolicited calls

Between the 1st June 2015 and 31st December 2015, Change and Save Limited reportedly used a public electronic communications service in order to make unwanted calls for marketing purposes. Change and Save claimed they were contacting people about a life style survey, but this transpired to be false.

By making these calls, Change and Save Limited breached the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.

Over 200 people had complained to both the Telephone Referencing Service and to the director of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
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O2 Customer Information on sale on the “dark web”

Its been confirmed that O2 customer data has been found for sale on the dark web which experts believe the data came from a hack several years ago from a gaming website called XSplit.

The log-in details were stolen from XSplit and were then matched with a number of O2 accounts, allowing the hackers access to customer’s personal information. This is known as credential stuffing.

Despite being told not to, a large percentage of online users reuse the same login details for numerous sites, making them especially vulnerable to having their data hacked. The hackers accessed customer’s personal information such as phone numbers, emails, and date-of-birth. This is all personal information that can be used for fraudulent purposes.
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Should CEOs be held directly accountable for data breaches?

With recent data hacks being so huge, like the TalkTalk hack, social media giants MySpace and dating site hacks such as Beautiful People, more needs to be done to help prevent online attacks.

There has now been a call for more responsibility to be put on company CEOs to make them more accountable when dealing with a data breach. This has been a recommendation by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, who carried out a report in the wake of the TalkTalk data hack.
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