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.
We are seeing more and more reports of school ransomware attacks, and it is concerning to see that hackers appear to be targeting this specific sector of civilisation.
Anyone who has lost control of their personal information could be entitled to pursue a claim for data breach compensation now.
Your Lawyers – as leading Data Leak Lawyers – represent thousands of people for data breach cases and have already recovered over £1m in damages for mostly individual clients. Having been working in this area of law for a great deal longer than most other data firms out there, our experience speaks for itself.
Anglesey schools cyberattack: A small island off the coast of Wales, Anglesey does not have many schools, but all five of its secondary schools were reportedly hit by a cyberattack in late June last year.
In the wake of the attack, investigations began to establish whether or not data had been affected and, if so, to what extent. The unknown element of cyberattacks was clearly demonstrated in this incident, with schools left wondering what the complications could be as they scrambled to deal with the assault on their systems.
Unfortunately, cyberattacks have been hitting the education sector with increasing frequency in recent times, calling into question how effectively school cybersecurity can defend against such targeted attacks. Where schools have not done enough to protect personal information, they could be responsible for a breach of data protection law. If you have been affected by an incident like this, you may be eligible to pursue a data protection breach compensation claim.
A suspected Dorset Council data breach has been reported in the media at the back end of 2021, although little is known yet about the finer details of the incident.
We know that the matter has been reported to the regulators, and that apologies have been made. If personal and sensitive information has been misused or exposed, this could cause significant distress to anyone affected.
Your Lawyers, as leading Data Leak Lawyers, are used to representing people for council data breach compensation cases. Anyone affected by such an incident can access free, no-obligation legal advice from our expert team here now.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a regulator that monitors the activity of financial services firms in the UK. Despite this authoritative position, the FCA has fallen foul of data laws, and was reportedly responsible for three major data breaches in 2020 alone. The three FCA data breaches in question were acknowledged following a Freedom of Information request (FOI) that was made by a media outlet, but the full details of the incidents were not expanded upon.
Regardless of the exact circumstances of incidents such as these, it is concerning to learn that personal information looks to have been exposed by the FCA. In its regulatory capacity, the FCA actually investigates businesses that have been responsible for data breaches, so its own reported failure to comply with data protection law could undermine the authority it should have over the organisations it regulates.
Given the sensitive information it holds about consumers and businesses, the FCA should have an advanced level of data security, but it seems to have failed in this responsibility on some occasions. When information is exposed by data controllers, they can be held accountable in accordance with the law. So, if you have been affected by a data breach, you could be entitled to make a compensation claim.
The police service holds some of the most sensitive information about the population, including the data of many perpetrators and victims of crimes. Police domestic abuse data is among the most private information there can be, due to the safety risks it could provoke if compromised. A data breach could potentially endanger victims and they could be located by their former abusers.
The police force, like any other data controller, is obliged to protect information in accordance with the GDPR, the primary data protection law in the UK. However, there have, unfortunately, been cases in which unacceptable breaches of privacy have occurred, affecting the information of victims of domestic abuse.
Most of us would expect the police to be fully aware of its responsibilities to maintain strong data security, but it seems data protection is still not a high enough priority or focus in some cases. Where mistakes are made, those responsible must be held accountable, and those affected should be fairly compensated for any harm caused. If you have fallen victim to a data breach at the hands of the police, you can contact us for free, no-obligation advice on your potential compensation claim.
Leading Data and Privacy Law firm Your Lawyers have been concerned to learn of an investigation into plans to sell Covid test samples for medical research.
The news was broken in November 2021, and reportedly involves Cignpost Diagnostics, trading as ExpressTest, who are understood to have conducted almost three million tests. It has been suggested that there are plans by the company to analyse samples from swabs and sell data to third parties, according to inews.
The private company is an approved provider of testing, and it has been reported that the company is now being investigated by the UK’s data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). There was understood to be a tick box as part of the purchasing process for the test that formed as part of a large privacy policy with links to a research programme. This is understood to have since been removed and appears to be the matter at the centre of the investigation.
There has been a Wealden Council data breach incident that is understood to have allowed a resident to access the private and personal information of other people.
Due to what appears to be an access error, some particularly personal and sensitive information has ended up exposed. The council has apologised for the incident but, for those affected, the damage may already have been done.
Your Lawyers, as leading Data Leak Lawyers, see these kinds of events all the time, and we are more than used to representing the victims for compensation cases.
In a data breach earlier this year involving Trafford Council, the personal information of residents had been publicly exposed. Personal details were reportedly taken as part of a resident survey, but the private information was understood to have not been redacted when the council sent a Freedom of Information request response to another resident.
Errors such as this seem to have become a common trait of council data breaches, with employees making needless mistakes that could be corrected with a few checks, and with greater attention to the appropriate procedures. Overall, the trend of human error data breaches at local authorities would suggest that there are inherent problems when it comes to data protection.
A lack of awareness in respect of data protection and cybersecurity is simply unacceptable in this day and age, in which the digitisation of personal information has the potential to make it a more accessible target for cybercriminals. While organisations bear the overall responsibility for compliance with data protection law, individual employees also have a role to play in eliminating data security risks.
Usually run by local councils, social services hold large quantities of sensitive information about the people under their care. The private nature of the work they carry out means that they are required to keep to strict standards of confidentiality. If they fail to do so, perhaps if a social worker leaked information or failed to keep data secure, they may be in breach of data protection law.
Whether they are children in foster care, people with disabilities, or elderly residents of council care homes, there are thousands of people in the UK who have some form of care provided by their local authority. The integrity of social workers is generally taken for granted but there can, unfortunately, be individuals who let the good name of their profession down.
Their actions may have been accidental or intentional, but in either case, a social worker should be held accountable if they have compromised your right to privacy. By making a compensation claim, you can ensure that you achieve the justice you deserve.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been widely linked to increased cyber threats, some of which may have involved targetting Covid-19 patients’ data. As a global crisis, it is unsurprising that cybercriminals have been seeking to take advantage of the vulnerabilities that have emerged due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In fact, patients’ medical information has always been a prime target for cybercriminals, given the sensitivity of healthcare records generally. In our previous and ongoing data breach claims, some of the most harmful incidents have been those that have exposed private medical records, often resulting in victims suffering from severe psychological side-effects.
We are close to the year two mark of when the world changed, but the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, so the data security threat to the healthcare sector is still present. However, where healthcare organisations do not have appropriate defences in place, they could still be partially responsible when cyberattacks are successful. If you have been affected by a data breach as a result of the negligence of a healthcare organisation, you could be eligible to claim compensation now.
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Lawyers accuse BA of 'swerving responsibility' for data breach
The biggest data breaches of 2020
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