We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
The British Airways GDPR fine could be as large as £500m, with several more millions on top of that to be paid to victims in compensation.
In terms of a fine, the new GDPR rules mean that a company responsible for a data breach is fined £17m or 4% of the company’s global annual turnover. The potential £500m figure has been based on the estimations of turnover, given how huge British Airways is.
Is this a feasible fine, and what about victims and their rights to compensation? How much could you receive?
The Equifax data breach fine from the ICO is the maximum amount that can be issued under the pre-GDPR rules. We welcome the decision.
Last year, we initiated our legal action against Equifax for victims of their mega breach. We’re now representing a number of individuals affected by the breach. If you have yet to join our Claimant Group, please contact us as soon as you can. It’s not too late.
The fine issued by the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) is the maximum allowed under the former rules before GDPR came into force. However, the fine does not account for the compensation that we’re pursuing for people.
The Rochester School data breach was caused as a result of a USB stick containing pupil data being lost. The data stick was also unencrypted.
It’s understood that the data for every single pupil – that’s more than 1,000 pupils – at the Rochester Grammar School was exposed on the unencrypted memory stick that was lost. The data included personal and sensitive information which is enough to cause distress to the victims involved.
Rochester School has since apologised for the data breach and the matter has been reported to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The Thinking Schools Academy Trust that runs the school has called the data breach “exceptionally disappointing”.
The Lib Dem voter data breach was another classic example of what can happen when data is inadvertently not secured.
The personal details of Liberal Democrat voters was accidentally left exposed and open to public access without the need for log-in credentials, let alone even a password.
The information exposed in the data breach included personal details and voter canvasing notes, both of which are personal and can be sensitive.
A police force has been blasted over data security failures by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after a “damning report” from the body responsible for overseeing the police in Scotland.
The ICO has reportedly demanded immediate action following an audit that has been described as “highly critical” with “urgent recommendations”.
It’s understood that the security of personal data, staff training and awareness, and data sharing are the areas of focus after investigations were undertaken to look into data security failures by the police.
The University of Greenwich has been fined £120,000.00 by the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) after being found guilty of allowing personal and sensitive data they hold to be exposed.
The fine comes off the back of a serious data breach where the data for some 20,000 university students and staff was compromised from a micro-site that had been used in 2004 for a training conference. This micro-site was not closed or secured, and was comprised in 2013, and then multiple attacks in 2016 allowed hackers access to the university’s web-server.
TSB bank could face fines for data breach issues related to the system outage problem they suffered last month.
Many customers were left unable to properly use their accounts online and via their app for several days after a system upgrade reportedly went wrong. Some customers were unable to view their accounts, make payments or transfer money, with countless angry customers turning to social media to vent their frustrations.
The ICO has completed a follow-up assessment of Dyfed Powys Police who signed an undertaking last year to improve their data protection compliance. The undertaking meant that the police force had to engage in force-wide data protection training and refresher training, as well as ensuring that training and monitoring was properly recorded to address non-compliance and ensure that security measures are in place to properly protect data.
The involvement of the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) – the UK’s data watchdog – was to ensure that Dyfed Powys Police were upholding their data protection responsibilities after a number of incidents had previously occurred.
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The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council has been fined £120,000 for an indeliberate data breach because the personal details of empty property owners in their constituency was published, contrary to data protection laws.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has called it a “serious contravention” which has led to the huge fine being issued of £120,000.
According to the ICO reports, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request had been made in relation to the Grenfell Tower incident as part of research into social inequality, and it was this request that led to the accidental disclosure.
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Worryingly, the police occupy one of the top spots in terms of organisations at the centre of data breaches, data leaks and hacks. Victims whose data is compromised in a data protection breach deserve to be notified as soon as possible, but it’s not unheard of for an organisation to “hide” a data breach as opposed to facing up to it and dealing with it.
Reportedly, Gwent Police are to be investigated for doing just that.
News sources say that Gwent Police are being investigated for failing to inform hundreds of individuals that their data protection rights had been breached.
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