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November of 2016 saw the largest number of data breach incidents

2016 was a big year for changes.

From Brexit and Trump, to a wave of celebrity legends departing our lives, 2016 was one heck of a bumpy road; and we saw some of the most notable data breaches in history around the world. With the online world ever advancing, we can’t seem to keep up. Cyber hackers have been constantly coming up with new methods to break down security walls to wreak havoc and fear, and leaks are almost becoming a norm.
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Hundreds of NHS patients may have suffered serious harm from 500,000 data breaches

Although we value and treasure our National Health Service – who for the most part do a wonderful job of looking after us – they are responsible for significant amounts of data breaches. In fact, they’re way ahead when compared to everyone else, and it’s a real issue because the information they secure for us is often very sensitive and personal.

Unfortunately, we have to report yet another serious data breach story involving the NHS.

It has been revealed that the NHS has lost more than 500,000 pieces of patient information between 2011 and 2016. This may have led to hundreds of NHS patients suffering serious harm as a result.
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Trio of data thieves have been prosecuted and fined over £400,000

A gang of three data thieves were charged and prosecuted by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) earlier this year for unlawfully obtaining personal data at their employment, and then selling it onto claim management companies.

Andrew Minty, Jamie Leong and Michelle Craddock – all employees of Enterprise-Rent-A-Car – conspired to steal customer information so they could sell on the personal information to third party claims management companies. They sold the information on the basis that the claims management company would then use the personal data and information to make nuisance calls to the individuals.
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Many United States Special Operations Command staff had their personal information leaked in an admin error.

Around 11 GB of personal data belonging to US Special Operations Command Staff was accidentally leaked by an admin error recently.

The names, locations, salaries and the US version of National Insurance numbers were leaked in this embarrassing mistake that could literally be a serious issue of national security.
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Tens of millions of pounds of investment portfolios were revealed in the Ameriprise data leak

Not all data breaches stem from hacking; sometimes it just leaks out.

An employee working at financial planning giant Ameriprise unintentionally exposed personal information of customers, which included hundreds of investment portfolios worth tens of millions of pounds.

So you can say this is a big leak.
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Police involved after a sensitive data leak occurred at Isle of Man’s Department of Health and Social Care

Recently, the self-governed state of the Isle of Man reported that one of their government departments had been subject to a sensitive data leak.

A recording device was stolen from a secured room at the Department of Health and Social Care. The recording device was used to record sensitive meetings with children and families. The department have said that the recording was not often used and only ever done at the request of the service user.
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18.6 million documents leaked in the football industry

Data leaks have been on an upward trend in recent years. In what’s been described as an ‘Edward Snowden-type of leak’, the professional football industry became one of the latest victims of a data leak at the end of last year.

And with it being the football industry, it’s understandably big news, and has caused quite a stir!
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Lynda.com, owned by LinkedIn and Microsoft, fell victim to a data breach which lost 55,000 passwords

Lynda.com – a subsidiary company of LinkedIn – has recently sent out an email to 9.5 million users to warn them of a data breach.

Although not all 9.5 million users’ data was apparently breached, the online learning company has been keen to alert all users of the breach “out of an abundance of caution”. The database that was accessed included contact information and courses that the users viewed, and a LinkedIn spokesperson also revealed that around 55,000 passwords were in the breached database.
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Multinational hotel chain hit by data breach: credit and debit data stolen!

A couple of days after Christmas, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) admitted that a number of their 5,000 hotels around the globe had been affected by a data breach.

It was reported that debit and credit information may have been stolen.

Some customers who visited those affected hotels have already reported fraudulent transactions on their bank accounts. Unfortunately, this New Year might not be the fresh start many were hoping for.
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“Millions of car dealership information spread on the web” – DealerBuilt’s “shoddy” system has reportedly caused a massive data breach

While data breaches are at an all-time high in the U.K., the U.S. are facing the same security crisis with huge data breaches happening all the time as well. A recent report showed that customers’ personal details from hundreds of car dealerships were put at risk due to an inadequate database.

DealerBuilt is a specialised Dealer Management System (DMS) which allows dealers to manage every aspect of a dealership, and they boast a “secure integration”, which is somewhat ironic given the breach…
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