Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Is the ethical handling of data the new moral responsibility for businesses and organisations? Could it help gain a competitive advantage?

The ethical handling of data has always been the aim of data protection watchdogs and officials. Companies and organisations have the responsibility to handle data securely under the Data Protection Act (DPA), but there is a term known as ‘ethically handling data‘ that’s growing in popularity.

The difference with ethical handling of data and normal handling of data goes beyond privacy, some believe. It’s about whether customers are aware of how their data will be used and how it will be protected from third parties above and beyond what anyone would generally assume.
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Multiple British intelligence and law enforcement agencies to investigate Uber hack and cover-up

Uber recently admitted to a historic data breach that compromised personal data belonging to some of its 57 million users and drivers worldwide. With six million of those users in the U.K., a significant number of people in Britain are expected to be potentially at risk of further criminal activity like fraud and digital harassment.

To make matters worse, the breach happened a year ago in October 2016, but instead of telling the authorities, Uber decided to ‘handle it’ by finding the hackers and paying them off to keep quiet.
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NHS remote and automated systems: What are the concerns?

In the past few years, the National Health Service (NHS) has made attempts to expand and ease the pressure on its extremely busy and hectic services with use of new technology. This included setting up an entire NHS internal email system that allows staff to send ‘secure’ emails to each other to share ‘sensitive information’.

An electronic prescription service is also available that allows GPs to send a prescription directly to a pharmacy.

But in the increasingly interconnected digital world, what are the concerns over using such technology? Should we be worried?
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NHS data breaches and NHS data breach compensation

The National Health Service (NHS): the provider of the nation’s healthcare that we put our trust and confidence in to look after us and care for our bodies and minds. In that trust, we usually give them unlimited access to our medical records.

Within those medical records, the NHS know all about our bumps, scrapes, embarrassing ailments and our most guarded mental health issues. They are a target for hackers and are leading the leagues when it comes to the highest number of breaches, which is very worrying. A lot of it is down to inadequate systems and procedures, but for the victims, it can become a life-changing event.
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The largest data leak compensation claim payouts

Data leaks can cause an absolute chasm of problems and, in reality, an unlimited amount of damage.

Personal information that’s been exposed can be used to create all sorts of damage and it may never end. The psychological effect can be hugely traumatic and distressing, so this type of damage can be very difficult to recover from. Monetary losses can be calculated in pounds and pence, but putting a figure on the cost of personal damage isn’t an easy science.

It can be done, though; and here are some of the highest recorded payouts.
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Urgent investigation launched over yet another data breach by the University of East Anglia

Only a few months ago, the University of East Anglia faced huge criticism when it accidentally sent out private and confidential information about students’ extenuating circumstances to hundreds of American Studies students.

Vowing to do better, the University gave the impression it would improve data protection procedures to ensure a similar incident wouldn’t happen again.

Sadly, it appears they have failed to uphold this, given there are now reports that sensitive information about a staff member was sent to 300 students in a second data leak. How can this have happened?
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After massive Equifax data breach, experts advise regular reviews of bank accounts

Equifax made history when it was hacked. Personal information belonging to an eye-watering 146 million people in the US, UK and Canada was at the centre of the breach.

The incident caused massive outrage as the hack was performed by exploiting a known vulnerability that Equifax failed to patch up. Affected consumers were understandably shocked and angry by the violation of their data rights, some weren’t even aware Equifax were storing their information. All the anger and disappointment aside, the breach has a real life risk to those exposed. So, what can be done to protect them?
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Data leak and data breach compensation – a very quick guide

Data leak and data breach compensation is a fairly new area of law. It’s definitely still within its infancy, but as the digital age continues to grow, it’s never been more relevant than now.

Data leaks and data breaches are happening all the time. Go back 20-years and we were still very much reliant on paper, but nowadays, I’m sure almost all office workers are sat in front of a computer that’s connected to a network and the internet.

This hugely expansive ability to connect, coupled with the growth in the use of digital information, has led to a time where leaks and breaches really are a continual problem, and people need to know what their rights are as a victim of a data leak or a data breach.
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The trends of council and local government breaches

Although we appreciate the hard work of those who work in our councils and local government bodies, data breaches in the public sector remain a big problem. In order to do their jobs, these establishments often need access to a lot of our personal data such as contact details, medical records, criminal records, etc.

We trust them with this information because, after all, they’re a part of the public establishment who are supposed to be there to look after our best interests. But there have been a large number of data breach cases that have left many worried about our data in their hands.
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Out-of-date devices like pagers reportedly a security risk

A report has suggested that employees from industrial environments may be leaking data through their pagers. For those industries still using such technology to communicate with their employees, this is not good news, and the report details how unsecure pager devices really are.

Pagers – wireless telecommunication devices that receive and display messages and voice messages – are practically a thing of the past now, but if they’re still in use, the risks need to be addressed.
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