Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
If you were a victim of the Marriott data hack, you may be worried about the uncertainties surrounding the event.
It has to be remembered that this was a huge, huge breach that affected some 500 million customers worldwide. Data may have been vulnerable and exposed for four years. Data breached included passport information, which is incredibly serious. Partial payment card information is also understood to have been exposed for some.
With the revelations that the company may never know who was behind the devastating data breach, what can the victims do to feel safe? All we can do as data breach lawyers is help you claim compensation as a victim of the breach.
It can be a huge problem if universities are hacked. Reports suggest that more needs to be done when it comes to educational cyber defence, as recent reports have confirmed that white hat hackers managed to easily break into systems.
According to media reports, white hat hackers managed to gain access to “high value” data from universities in hours. In case you’re not sure, “white hat hackers” are essentially hackers who break into systems for non-malicious proposes. They often inform the organisations they have hacked so they can improve their security. They’re often security specialists themselves.
We’ve seen the damage that university data breaches can cause. We continue to run an action for victims of the University of Greenwich Data Leak. In that case, a wealth of personal and sensitive data was exposed.
As investigations into the Police Federation of England and Wales cyber attack continue, we’ve taken cases forward on a No Win, No Fee basis.
The investigations into the two malware attacks that hit the PFEW on 9th March and 21st March 2019 are underway, and we’ve agreed to take claims forward. Our legal team who are fighting for justice in dozens of data breach group actions have been contacted for help. As with the other group and multi-party actions we’re running, we have offered No Win, No Fee compensation representation.
It’s understood that the data for some 120,000 police employees may have been exposed in the incident. At this stage, information exposure or theft cannot be ruled out.
We’ve started taking cases forward on a No Win, No Fee basis for victims of the PFEW cyber attacks that were announced recently.
Some 120,000 police employees may have been affected by this data breach, spanning 40 different forces. The PFEW (Police Federation of England and Wales) cannot determine whether any information was exposed, so on the basis that it cannot be ruled out, we’ve agreed to take cases on.
Another key factor is that there were two separate incidents that spanned over a number of weeks. The first incident took place on 9th March 2019, and the second took place on 21st March 2019. It’s believed that the attacks were a part of a wider operation as opposed to specifically targeting PFEW.
Last month, apologies and testimonies took place in relation to the massive Marriott cyber attack that saw some 500 million people’s records exposed.
Marriott International Inc.’s Chief executive, Arne Sorenson, reportedly appeared before a U.S. Senate committee to testify. As part of a written testimony, an apology was issued, although the company is said to have declined to comment on the developments.
There are stark differences between how the U.S. deal with companies in the wake of huge data breaches and how the U.K. deals with them. Although we have the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who can issue fines in the millions under GDPR, the government rarely gets involved in the same way the U.S. does. However, victims in the U.K. can still be eligible to claim data breach compensation. This is important to remember.
Given the scale of this growing market, which is becoming increasingly monetised with in-game purchases often the norm now, we may see increases in online gaming data breach incidents.
When you look under the surface of the gaming industry, there are a number of reasons to feel concerned. The revelations about Fortnite hacking (or Fortnite cracking as it’s often referred to) is worrying. Some youngsters are making a mint by hacking into accounts and then making use of the often-hard-earned digital property the original account user had amassed as they sell accounts on.
Online gaming is on the rise. This could put a bigger target on their back for the cybercriminals and fraudsters who can exploit gamers with ransom demands and account takeovers.
The (PFEW) Police Federation of England and Wales data breach incidents were announced earlier this month, and they’re potentially huge. The PFEW cyber attacks may have affected 120,000 police employees.
Although PFEW say that they don’t believe any information was exposed, they cannot rule it out. For the potential victims of the breaches, this isn’t helpful. It’s hard enough these days being on the police force with constant cuts and under-staffing.
This kind of added stress in the current environment of policing isn’t helpful at all.
We may see a Marriott GDPR fine applied after the monumental breach that was discovered last year, given the volume of people affected and the nature of the breach.
As many as 500 million people were affected, with data said to have been compromised between 2014 and 2018. An unauthorised third-party is said to have accessed the guest reservation table fore the Startword division of the company. Data exposed in the breach included a lot of personal and account data.
The breach lapses over GDPR coming into force in May 2018. That means that the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) could issue a fine that equates to 4% of the Marriott’s global annual turnover.
The dangers of the Quora data breach cannot be understated, especially when the incident reportedly affected up to 100m users!
Just yesterday we wrote about the issue of reusing passwords and user credentials across multiple sites. Doing so can put you at far greater risks than you may even realise. One of the key things it means is that your credentials breached in an attack could be used to break into other platforms you use. Facebook is a prime example with billions of users and a feature that lets you log into other platforms using your Facebook credentials.
On that basis, the dangers of an incident like this Quora one simply cannot be understated.
Thousands of people have contacted us for help with data breach claims. Victims can be entitled to make a claim for compensation. The risks of reusing passwords is one of the first things people may need to consider.
The advice is to never reuse the same passwords and user credentials across different platforms. Despite this, people still do it. It means that being the victim of one simple breach could lead to several accounts being accessed. In fact, it could even mean those credentials are used to hack into a business you are employed with.
There’s a great deal that many people may not consider when it comes to reusing passwords and usernames. The mindset needs to change!
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