We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
A number of Leicestershire police data breach incidents have been reported in the news recently. Police data breaches are always worrying, so it’s concerning to learn of these incidents.
With public sector data breaches often topping the charts in terms of the volumes of individual cases we take forward, this is a serious matter. The police computers and databases hold a wealth of incredibly personal and sensitive data about millions of people. In the wrong hands, leaks and misuse of such information can be severe for the victims.
Right now, we’re representing people who are claiming data breach compensation as victims of police incidents. News of the prosecutions and investigations into a number of incidents that stem from the Leicestershire force is concerning.
You can be entitled to make a claim for compensation if you have been the victim of a human error data leak, and we can offer No Win, No Fee representation.
Some may believe that there’s nothing that can be done about a human error data leak, and that it’s just “one of those things”.
But that’s not the case at all. With one recent study suggesting that almost two-thirds of data breaches are directly caused by human error, victims need to know what they can do about it. And that’s where we can help you.
The Hollybrook Medical Centre data breach is another example of an employee (or former employee in this case) who has abused their rights of access to data.
In this case, former GP Practice Manager, Shamim Sadiq, was suspended and dismissed on unrelated matters from the Hollybrook Medical Centre in November 2017. The day after the suspension came into force, Sadiq reportedly accessed her work email account and committed a data breach by sending information to her personal email address.
The reason she was able to still access the account was because she was also employed as an advisor for the Care Quality Commission. She therefore still had access to her NHS email account.
A lack of data training is an easy open goal for data breaches and cybersecurity incidents. It’s not a viable defence to a claim for compensation.
Over the years we’ve been helping people, thousands of victims have asked for our help for data breaches, leaks and hacks. We can tell you from years of experience that a common cause of incidents can sometimes be a simple issue of a lack of training. Even though data breaches are always in the news, and the risk of a cybersecurity incident has probably never been higher, data protection training is still not a priority for some.
I’ve spoken to friends and family for some insight as well, and there are still way too many organisations not treating it seriously; despite GDPR. For a victim who must make a claim for data breach compensation, a lack of training is no excuse to deflect a claim.
A recent prosecution has taken place over the V12 Sports and Classics data breach incident where a former employee of the company has been found guilty of breaking the law.
In this case, the former employee (32-year-old Jayana Morgan Davies) reportedly forwarded work emails that contained the data of customers and colleagues to her personal account. She resigned from her position a few weeks later, which suggests a specific motive for the illegal processing of the data she misused.
The incident is said to have taken place in August 2017. It has led to a successful prosecution from the ICO (the Information Commissioner’s Office).
There has been a Heart of England NHS data breach incident, and it’s yet another case of an NHS employee snooping on the personal data of people they know.
We’ve spoken out about the issue of NHS employees abusing their rights to access medical data a lot recently. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – the UK’s data watchdog – has prosecuted a number of offenders for such actions. They’ve also had to send out warnings to staff about their responsibilities and the punishments they can face when it comes to this kind of behaviour.
A large volume of the cases we represent people for are NHS data breach compensation claims, so hearing of these kinds of incidents isn’t surprising.
There has been a prosecution for a worrying Nuneaton and Bedworth Council data breach that’s an example of how employees can exploit the data they can access.
In this incident, former head of building control at the council, Kevin Bunsell, shared personal information about job applications with his partner. His partner had applied for the same job that the candidates whose data was shared had applied for, and she won the position.
Although we can only speculate as to the motives, we can assume that the reasons for sharing the data were to assist his partner in securing the position which she was eventually awarded.
Our No Win, No Fee compensation action for victims of the Well Pharmacy data leak is underway, and you can sign-up for our help today.
If you were one of the 24,000 people caught up by the Well Pharmacy data leak, you may be eligible to claim compensation with us. We’re taking cases on and we’ve initiated our action for anyone affected by the recent email leak of personal and sensitive data.
The Well Pharmacy data leak action is one of the over 20 different data breach actions we’re representing people for. When it comes to data leaks, access to justice can be achieved through our specialist legal services.
There has been a serious Swansea Council data breach that has affected vulnerable adults and children that was discovered in December 2018.
In this remarkable case, a diary was found on the side of the A48 road in Carmarthenshire. The diary contained personal and confidential information about vulnerable adults and children and is thought to belong to a Swansea Council employee.
It has yet to be determined how the diary ended up abandoned at the side of the road. What we know for certain is that proper care for sensitive data has not been upheld.
The NASA data breach is a worrying one. An agency as prolific as NASA has been hit by a cyberattack. It makes us wonder – as we often do – is anyone really safe?
Our Data Leak Lawyers are involved in over 20 different data breach actions. These range from the Equifax data breach of 2017, to the British Airways data breach of this year. These are huge hacks that affected large organisations. Each time a new one comes along, we’re a mix of surprised and unsurprised that it has happened. On the one hand, these breaches are happening all the time, but on the other, the big-name breaches are worrying.
Surely there should never be such a thing as a NASA data breach. Yet it has happened…
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