Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Staffordshire police data breach leads to sacking

A sickening Staffordshire police data breach has led to an officer being sacked and being handed a 12-month prison sentence.

With the police handling very sensitive and personal information, we expect the best from them. Unfortunately, they do fall short on some occasions. The police have been embroiled in a number of data breach incidents for several years. A concerning element is where officers are using police data when they’re not supposed to.

This hearings in the Staffordshire police data breach at the centre of this article resulted in the instant dismissal for the officer involved.

read more

By Author

Compensation for a council email breach

You may be entitled to claim compensation as a victim of a council email breach, and our Data Leak Lawyers are here to help you.

A number of council email breaches have taken place over the years, and they can often happen by human error or software problems. Whatever the cause, they are often seen as systemic issues that can be easily resolvable, meaning the breaches should never have happened in the first place. For this reason, depending on the data breached, victims can be entitled to claim for data breach compensation.

read more

By Author

ICO issues fine for IICSA data breach

The ICO has issued a fine for the IICSA data breach that took place last year. The fine amounts to £200,000.00 given the sensitive nature of the data involved in the breach.

The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) said last month that, “This incident placed vulnerable people at risk, which is concerning. IICSA should and could have done more to ensure this did not happen.”

The IICSA data breach was another scenario of a simple but very avoidable data breach that has ultimately led to incredibly sensitive and personal information being exposed.

read more

By Author

Is mobile phone data protection lagging behind?

There are suggestions that mobile phone data protection is lagging behind as a result of security immaturity and attitudes toward mobile safety.

The smartphone industry in particular has grown exponentially in recent years, and with more than half of the internet’s traffic thought to be on mobile devices, and with mobile apps springing up all the time, some experts are concerned at the lack of maturity mobile phone data protection has when compared to desktop protection.

Does security and attitudes need to change?

read more

By Author

Shurgard UK employee data breach

The Shurgard UK employee data breach has led to personal and sensitive information about employees being leaked by Human Resources.

Our Data Leak Lawyers have been approached for help and representation following the breach, where personal and sensitive data about employees was accidentally shared to what’s believed to be all employees within the company.

The attachments on the breach email contained detailed notes referencing employee attitudes, attendances, progression potential, grievances and health concerns.

read more

By Author

Jaguar Land Rover employee data breach

Jaguar Land Rover have been subject to an employee data breach that has reportedly affected hundreds of staff.

The personal and sensitive employee data for hundreds of agency staff at the firm’s Solihull site is understood to have been shared around the workforce as the carmaker sets to embark on a job redundancy program that may affect thousands of employees.

The data breached includes payroll information and personal data about days of absence, and even employee disability information.

read more

By Author

Is an organisation responsible for an employee data breach?

“Is an organisation responsible for an employee data breach?”

This question is rarely asked when people contact us for help and advice about a data protection compensation claim, but it can be a key one. Many people often assume that the organisation – i.e. the person’s employer – must be responsible; but that’s not always the case.

Data breach incidents are assessed on a case-by-case basis, but there can be scenarios where an employee’s data breach can leave the employer vicariously liable, meaning the organisation they work for is who you pursue. In fact, a recent landmark case has potentially made it easier to do this as well.
read more

By Author

A data breach at the University of Surrey Sports Park hits 90,000 staff and students

A data breach at the University of Surrey Sports Park has hit 90,000 people after a password was published online by a software supplier in what is being classed as an “employee error”.

The University has reportedly contacted members, staff and students to inform them of the data security issue, where details like birth dates, bank details, health information and contact particulars was at risk of exposure due to the publication of the password. A “sincere apology” has been issued, and victims of the breach are being asked to remain vigilant.
read more

By Author

When employees steal data to engage in personal contact with customers…

There is a very worrying trend of employees stealing data from their workplaces in order to engage personal contact with a customer. More often than not, it is an employee stealing a customer’s mobile phone number and then contacting the customer to “make friends” or try and pursue a romantic interest in the victim.

Clearly, this is wrong.

How will this worrying trend be stopped, and what can victims do if they are contacted by people who have stolen their contact information from a workplace?
read more

By Author

Councils ‘unprepared’ for cyber-attacks

According to information from a report by privacy advocates Big Brother Watch, despite assurances that local government authorities are taking data protection seriously, more than a quarter of UK councils have had systems breached in the last five years.

The report also found that the majority of the successful breaches were caused by the simple and well-known phishing method, pointing to staff as the “weakest link” in terms of cybersecurity and data defence.

The report also references the fact that three-quarters of councils reportedly do not provide mandatory cyber-security training, with 16% not providing any at all.
read more

By Author