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Industry Reaction to O2 Data Hack

O2 customer data was found for sale on the dark web from a hack that reportedly took place several years ago. The data was supposedly obtained from gaming website XSplit.

Log-in details were stolen from XSplit, and were then matched with a number of O2 accounts, allowing the hackers access to customer’s personal information. This is known as credential stuffing.

As so many people are online and reuse the same usernames and passwords, even though we are told not to, this hack has made people vulnerable to further problems. The hacker’s accessed customer’s personal information such as phone numbers, emails, and their date of birth. You can read more on this story here.

Today, we’ll be looking at the industry’s reaction to the hack.
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SwiftKey ‘glitch’ a potential data leak?

SwiftKey is a device for both IOS and Android systems such like smart phones and tablets. It has a database that stores commonly used words and phrases used by the owner. When the user is typing, SwiftKey can offer suggestions on what words to use. This can include things like email addresses, names, and phone numbers commonly used.

Last week it was reported that users of SwiftKey had been experiencing problems when using the keyboard. Users of the keyboard reported that they were receiving other people’s suggestions, which also included personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, and names. There were also reports of word suggestions in different languages that users had not used before.
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Local Government data leaks – a common problem

Our local governments hold a wealth of information about us.

Due to how much information they have on us, data breaches from local government organisations can be a major concern. One of the most frustrating things about local government data leaks is that we are required to share so much of our personal information with them that it makes even small vulnerabilities a huge problem.

Unlike businesses, where we arguably have more of an option when it comes to how much of our personal information we chose to share with them,  when it comes to sharing information with our government, it is often a necessity, and can be some of our most personal information indeed.

As we hand over more and more personal data, we expect it to be kept secure – but this is not always the case.
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Should CEOs be held directly accountable for data breaches?

With recent data hacks being so huge, like the TalkTalk hack, social media giants MySpace and dating site hacks such as Beautiful People, more needs to be done to help prevent online attacks.

There has now been a call for more responsibility to be put on company CEOs to make them more accountable when dealing with a data breach. This has been a recommendation by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, who carried out a report in the wake of the TalkTalk data hack.
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Breach of NHS Patient confidentiality – more common than you think!

All members of the NHS have a duty to not disclose patient’s personal information. This is a part of the foundation of a patient/ doctor relationship. However, whilst most people believe their personal information is protected, data breaches by the NHS have been discovered to be more common than you think!

NHS data breaches can have serious consequences for the victims involved.
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Companies fear their data is at risk to online attacks

The majority of UK companies have revealed that their data is not adequately protected against the risk of data breaches.

A recent survey revealed that nearly 70% of companies that took part feared their data would be at risk if their systems were breached.

Only 7% of respondents were confident that their data would be secure if a company’s security perimeter was breached. 97% of companies in the UK actually admitted that their systems were ineffective in protecting its data from hackers and any other unauthorised users.
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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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