Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

TalkTalk Customers targeted by scammers and fraudsters; but what are TalkTalk doing about it?

The 2015 TalkTalk hack resulted in the details for 156,959 customers being accessed. Of these, 15,656 bank account numbers and sort codes were accessed.

Off the back of this, fraudsters have been targeting TalkTalk customers, and we can only assume they are doing it off the back of the information that has been hacked. We’re acting for a number of people who have been called by fraudsters pretending to be TalkTalk and scamming them out of money.

But TalkTalk seem awfully quiet on the very serious issue of their customers being targeted by clever fraudsters from what we have seen…
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Greenwich University suffers second data breach in so-called “revenge hack”

We’re already acting for a number of individuals who have been affected by the Greenwich University data leak from earlier this year, when it was discovered that personal student information was accessible online. Our Data Leak Lawyers are already representing victims of that breach, but now a second significant data breach has occurred as well.

Medical conditions; personal conversation records; full names and contact information; coursework; email account information; and student disability information is amongst data that was available online following a so-called “revenge hack” from a former disgruntled student.
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Data Breaches and the panic they cause!

As soon as you hear of a data breach, most people get concerned; and rightly so.

Whether it’s the bank you use, a social networking site you have an account for, or a telecoms provider, it’s always a cause for concern to hear that information has been hacked or leaked from an organisation that you are associated with in some way.

But with huge breaches like the recent MySpace, Tumblr, and LinkedIn ones comes an element of panic that causes things to get lost in translation, and the result is other organisations getting wrongly dragged in to breaches.
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The main cause of data breaches? Human error…

The primary cause of data breaches nowadays is simple – human error.

As humans we’re susceptible to making mistakes. It’s what we do and it’s a part of life, and learning from mistakes to better ourselves is a responsibility we all share.

But time and time again data breaches – which are continual – are happening because of human mistakes that have happened before and CAN be prevented.

So why aren’t organisations doing more to tackle it?
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Huge Data Breach hits Myspace and Tumblr

Literally hundreds of millions of Myspace and Tumblr user account details, reportedly hacked a few years ago, have surfaced for sale on the dark web.

News of the incident comes just days after the scale of the 2012 LinkedIn hack widened when millions of account details from the previous hack appeared online for sale, and security experts believe there may be a link given data from separate historic hacks is being put up for sale in such a short period of time.

News of this breach has increased fears for online safety with experts suggesting more may be on the way.
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Research shows victims hold the organisations primarily responsible for data leaks

Research conducted by ResearchBods found that consumers put the responsibility for data leaks, breaches, and hacks firmly on the shoulders of the organisations.

The study results showed that people blame the organisations far more than the hackers, and in terms of how the law actually works, it’s fair to say that the legal responsibility does weigh heavily on organisation (as Data Controllers) anyway.

The excuse “oh, but we were hacked!” is not one that will save an organisation from criminal or civil prosecution!
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Is there any such thing as a “non-serious” data breach?

There are differing levels in terms of severity of data leaks – it could be fair comment to say that a person’s full name being leaked is perhaps not as dangerous as a person’s bank account details being leaked. But it does depend on other factors, like whether a leak of a name is related to a sensitive subject; such as the full name of someone with a certain medical condition, as an example.

If that happens then just a name can be very serious indeed, but in an age where leaks are happening around the world all of the time – and we literally mean, ALL of the time – we ask the question: is there really such thing as a “non-serious” data breach?
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Check Point Claims Limited fined £250,000 for serious data protection breaches

Nuisance calls – the bane of many people’s lives!

Thankfully the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can fine and prosecute organisations for failing to adhere to regulations for marketing calls, and in this example, Check Point Claims Limited has been fined a huge £250,000.00 for failing to comply with the law.

They reportedly made a staggering 17.5 MILLION nuisance calls asking if people had suffered hearing loss at work.
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Data breach compensation

You may not know this but you are entitled to claim for data breach compensation if you are the victim of a data breach. You can claim data breach compensation from organisations leaking your information (like a public service or your employer); from organisations sharing your information without consent; or even from hacks, as examples.

In the digital age we live in, where organisations hold an astounding wealth of information about us, we’re all at risk of our right to privacy being breached, and at risk of scams and frauds.

So what can you claim for in terms of data breach compensation, and on what basis do you claim?
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Kiddicare customer data breach

The details of almost 800,000 customers of UK baby and child retailer Kiddicare have been stolen from a version of their website it had been using for testing.

Customers reported receiving suspicious messages that had not been sent by Kiddicare, and following an investigation, the data breach was linked back to a test website they had used which led to customer data being compromised.

The company has reported itself to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) in light of what has happened.
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