Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Wrongful access to medical records

Our medical records are private and often very sensitive. Only those who we allow should access our medical records, and there should always be a good and justifiable reason to do so.

Despite this rather obvious sentiment, wrongful or needless access, or use of, medical records remains a problem that we have had to help people claim for. It can sometimes be people we know who have access to our records and access them for wrongful means, or it could be someone accessing records to change them, or to use information from them for financial gain.

It happens, and we have helped people who have had to claim when their records have been unduly accessed.
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Sage Software firm suffers data breach

UK software company Sage has suffered a data breach which could have affected the personal information of employees at 280 businesses.

The breach is being investigated by the police, and Sage is looking into the unauthorised access of data where someone used an “internal” company computer login for access. It is unclear whether the information was stolen or simply looked at, but the incident allegedly took place nevertheless.
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Healthcare industry at the heart of most data breaches

Healthcare data breaches are the most common – which is unfortunate because of the sensitivity of the information that can often be leaked or hacked.

The NHS has a wealth of information about us. Due to how much information they have on us, data breaches by the NHS can be a major concern. One of the most frustrating things about NHS data leaks is that we are required to share so much of our personal information with them.

Unlike businesses, we arguably have more of an option to how much information we choose to share with them, when it comes to sharing information with the NHS, it’s more out of necessity – we share some of our most personal information with the healthcare industry.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) did a report on data security, and their findings highlighted just how frequent healthcare industry data breaches takes place.
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South Central Ambulance Service staff data breach in 2013

If you have yet to claim as a victim of this breach, time is running out – contact us now!

The personal data of thousands of ambulance service staff was accidentally published online back in 2013, which was one of the worst breaches of its time.

South Central Ambulance Service published the age, sexuality, and religion of almost 30,000 ambulance staff members – a serious breach of data protection regulations.

The Information Commissioner’s Office investigated the claim once it was revealed by a BBC Radio Berkshire Freedom of Information request to the service.

2,826 staff members who were employed by the organisation that covers Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Berkshire in October 2013.
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Looking Back: Islington Council resident data breach October 2015

Last year, Islington Council accidentally published residents personal details on their public website.

This lead to Town hall bosses having to apologise yet again over another data breach on the back of three previous ones in recent years that cost the taxpayer £100,000.

The council received a phone call from a resident who had discovered the data breach after going online to pay a penalty charge only to notice copies of the residents information had been uploaded onto the council website.
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Employees of Google, Samsung and Apple suffer data breach

Employee accounts of Google, Samsung, and Apple along with other tech firms have apparently had their accounts hacked.

This information comes from the Khronos website. Supposedly the hackers hacked into a forum that was often used by the developers for things such as game development. Others that are allegedly victims of the hack include Toshiba, Sony Ericsson, IBM, EA, Intel, Panasonic and VMWare.

More companies may have had employee accounts stolen as well.
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NHS data breaches are often the biggest

Most people believe their personal information is safe in the hands of medical processionals – but data breaches by the NHS are at the top of the list in terms of how often they happen.

Due to the sensitivity of the information that we hand over to the NHS, it is very private and personal information that could be leaked. It is not the same with handing information over to businesses or companies in which we can choose what information we wish to share with them. We have no option but to share lots of personal information with the NHS which can make it even more of a problem when a data breach occurs.

So it’s concerning to hear that one of the biggest offenders of leaks and breaches within the UK is the NHS!
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Hertfordshire Regal Chambers Surgery data leak results in £40,000 fine

An investigation carried out by the UK’s privacy watchdog has led to a Doctors Surgery in Hertfordshire being fined £40,000 for giving out personal medical information contrary to data laws.

The surgery, Regal Chambers, gave information to a woman’s estranged partner despite the practice being warned this might happen.

The information was formally requested by the ex-partner regarding the son he has with the woman. The data breach was discovered when the ex-partner filed medical reports in court against her.
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Police data leaks: a growing concern…

We trust the authorities with our personal information in some of our most distressing times which is why it’s important that the Police must protect the data they have on us. But is our data always safe in the hands of the authorities?

As Big Brother Watch found out in a report, the security of our data with the police might be something we should all perhaps be a bit more concerned about…
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Nurses stolen handbag causes potential data breach update

We covered this yesterday – the story about a nurse’s stolen handbag possibly causing a significant data breach, which has been a real cause for concern for those affected.

On 9^th July, in east Chesterton, an out of hours nurse who worked for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust  was visiting a patient when the out of hours vehicle she was using was broken into. Her handbag was stolen from the car, which contained a diary.

The diary contained information about 200 patients whom the nurse had been visiting for the last six months. The information contained in the diary included patient name, their address, and, for some, access information to their home.

The result of this is a potentially huge data breach for those whose details have been stolen.
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