Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
While large-scale data breaches are often the ones that hit the headlines, the reported Sheffield Council data breaches represent an example of how individual data breaches can build up and amount to significant information being exposed.
Over the course of 2019 and 2020, Sheffield City Council is understood to have recorded a total of 231 incidents, 92 of which were breaches involving personal data.
At the Your Lawyers – T/A the Data Leak Lawyers – we have been representing clients in privacy cases since 2014 as a leading firm of data breach compensation lawyers. We believe that councils must be held accountable for any inadequacies when it comes to data protection, so we are here to help you with council data breach compensation claims now.
The New Year’s Honours List is published at the end of every year to recognise the achievements of some of the most successful and influential people in our country. As such, the New Year’s Honours data breach at the end of 2019 was a significant blot on this celebratory event.
In an accidental leak, the addresses of over 1,000 award recipients were published online.
As the turn into 2021 marked just over a year since the leak occurred, we wish to notify victims that they still have a right to claim compensation. We are already taking legal action following the leak, as all organisations must be held accountable for failures to protect private data. Your Lawyers – The Data Leak Lawyers – is here to help any victims of data breaches at all times.
A member of staff at the West Mercia Police has reportedly resigned after breaching the force’s data protection regulations.
Although the staff member in question had elected to leave her position before her misconduct hearing was held, it appears that she would have had no choice but to go in any event, as the investigation concluded that the offence necessitated dismissal.
The incident is understood to have involved the employee sharing information inappropriately with a member of the public. This was done so without authorisation and without a necessary policing reason for releasing such data.
Although the industry has, unfortunately, had quiet year in 2020, it seems this fact has not lessened their risk of travel and leisure data breaches.
Travel and leisure breaches have been prominent in the news with the revelation that companies including Expedia and Booking.com have been affected by a large-scale breach, after their partner Prestige Software failed to password-protect a database containing millions of customers’ booking details. Among the exposed details were guests’ names, phone numbers, email addresses and payment details, inducing risks of both blackmail and fraud.
As the travel and leisure industries continue to be a prime target of hackers, it is important to evaluate the scale of the impact, and to consider why these companies succumb to breaches again and again.
In today’s digital world, we often expect data breaches to occur in cyber settings. However, the risk of data leaks, loss and theft involving physical records and documents is also a cause for concern, and companies still need to be vigilant in protecting their hard material information.
Incidents involving physical records can happen a lot. The all too frequent neglect of physical records is exemplified in the case of Westbury House, a Hampshire care home that closed in 2016 after being deemed an unfit care provider.
It was reportedly found to have abandoned confidential staff and patient information in the uninhabited building. The information was only proved to have been removed and secured at the start of December, 4 years after the care home’s closure. Over the course of these years, obvious negligence could have allowed trespassers to breach the building and rifle through the files. A failure of data protection such as this cannot go unnoticed.
An employee error has recently brought about the Now: Pensions data breach, leading to the online exposure of customers’ personal details.
Now: Pensions, one of the UK’s largest pension providers, was involved in a breach of data protection duties through this leak. The result of the incident left the names, dates of birth, home addresses, and National Insurance numbers of trusting customers vulnerable to misuse.
The firm has accounted for the breach by explaining that a contractor from an external partner inadvertently uploaded the data to a public forum. Although the data was only public for a brief period of time and was removed as soon as the error was identified, the idea that the company’s procedures and systems could not protect against such a mistake is worrying.
A recent leak of patient data has called into question the data protection practices of Lloyds Pharmacy. A parcel containing the prescription records of hundreds of Lloyds pharmacy patients is believed to have been intended for an NHS recipient, but mistakenly reached a personal home 300 miles away instead.
When the unintended recipient opened the box, she was shocked at the mass of details she found, assuming they were intended for the NHS prescription services in Bolton.
While Lloyds Pharmacy has placed the blame on an external courier service who mistakenly delivered the parcel, they may not be able to sidestep their ultimate responsibility for the control and handling of their own data in accordance with the GDPR. The incident undoubtedly highlights the risks organisations take when entrusting an external party with the safety of confidential records.
In a workplace data breach, the exposure of employee information can be devastating for the reputation of the company and its overall operations.
But the personal impact on staff members can be the most harmful effect, and this is the element that we focus on.
If you have been the victim of a data breach in your workplace, Your Lawyers is here to support you in the face of the errors or neglect of your employer. In the event that your information has been processed incorrectly or insufficiently protected, you could be eligible to claim compensation for any harm caused to you.
In the UK last year, the coronavirus pandemic caused us to lead more and more of both our personal and professional lives online. As such, the risk of fraud from data breaches has heightened.
In 2020, The Daily Express reported that one in five people (equating to around 11 million) had their data hacked, and one in three reported that they are unequipped to protect their online data. This is a shocking number of victims which, in our view, is indicative of a national crisis in cybercrime. It undoubtedly reveals that large-scale action needs to be taken.
Indeed, the shocking nature of such statistics is part of the problem, as experts (ourselves included) cite low awareness as a key reason why the number of victims has been allowed to reach this horrifying height. The vice-president of Clario, the body which compiled the research in association with thinktank Demos, highlighted that victims seem to “think they should suffer in silence”.
A recent meeting of local councillors has reportedly highlighted data security problems that could put the Lichfield District Council in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The issue surrounds the reported continued use of unencrypted laptops and was raised by Cllr Joanne Grange, who is understood to have expressed concerns that the problems had still not been addressed three years after they were identified in 2017.
It is understood that Cllr Grange suggested that the failure to update working practices in accordance with data protection regulations could be tantamount to “negligence”. Her statements have undoubtedly highlighted some key problems which the council should feel obliged to address as a matter of urgency.
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British Airways data breach: How to claim up to £6,000 compensation
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Virgin Media faces £4.5 BILLION in compensation payouts
BA customers given final deadline to claim compensation for data breach
Shoppers slam Morrisons after loyalty points stolen
Half a million customers can sue BA over huge data breach
Lawyers accuse BA of 'swerving responsibility' for data breach
The biggest data breaches of 2020
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