Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Millions of email accounts hacked by Russian hacker; or not?

Last week reports emerged that 272 million email accounts had been put up for sale on the dark web by a Russian hacker.

It spread an understandable wave of panic across the world as people scoured the internet to find out if their account had been compromised.

However, digital security experts now believe that the hack may have been a fake as part of a publicity stunt launched by the researcher who claimed to have discovered it.
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56 Dean Street Clinic Fined £180,000 by ICO; a move welcomed by our lawyers leading the fight for justice

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has concluded its investigations in to the 56 Dean Street Clinic data leak that saw the confidential HIV status of over 700 patients inadvertently leaked by email.

Our lawyers fighting for justice have welcomed the move by the ICO to fine the clinic following the breach. We’ve taken on a large number of cases since the leak, and we’re still taking instructions now (with the latest few being this week).
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Blackpool NHS Fined £185,000 for serious Data Protection Breach

Personal and sensitive data of thousands of employees working for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was inadvertently posted online.

The discovery was made on 30^th January 2015 and reportedly affects more than 6,500 employees when a spreadsheet containing highly confidential information was published online back in March 2014.

The data included names, national insurance numbers, birth dates, religious beliefs, pay scales, disability statuses, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

This is a serious breach of data protection and one of the worst we have ever seen here in the UK.
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Computer viruses found in German nuclear power plant

Now there’s a headline that fills me with dread; the thought of a computer virus inside a nuclear power plant!

We all know how valuable nuclear power can be, but we also know how dangerous it can be if a plant was to suffer some form of catastrophic failure, and with practically everything these days governed by computers, it’s a worry to hear that a nuclear power plant could have computer viruses.

Simple viruses can shut down PC’s; turn off fans; overload servers; all sorts…
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Millions of users of hacked dating website ‘Beautiful People’ personal info sold online

The personal details of 1.2 million users of the dating website Beautiful People are being sold online.

Members information for the dating site which caters for what they consider to be “beautiful people only” where users are voted in by existing users over a 48 hour period, is now being sold on the black market. The information available includes names, ratings, dates of birth, social habits, educational backgrounds, locations, income and financial information, personal interests, sexual preferences, and passwords.

Millions of messages sent between users are also said to have been leaked as well.
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Health and Social Care Information Centre signs ICO undertaking after failing to protect against medial data sharing

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has signed an undertaking to comply with its requirements under the Data Protection Act, having fallen short in the past.

Patients whose data they were dealing with were offered an “opt-out” option for certain data being shared with other organisations, but this was not honoured. As such, anyone who opted out still had their information shared anyway without their consent.

The HSCIC has now reportedly agreed to take a series of steps and have signed an undertaking to ensure they comply with their obligations in the future.
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ICO fine Kent Police £80K for serious data breach of alleged domestic abuse victim

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has fined Kent Police £80,000 after the entire contents of an alleged domestic abuse victim’s mobile phone were disclosed to the alleged assailant.

The victim had given her phone to Kent Police on the grounds it contained video footage of the alleged abuse. The contents were copied, but the domestic abuse court case was discontinued.

Her former partner who was accused of the abuse was actually a serving officer at Kent Police and faced separate misconduct proceedings, and as part of the separate case, the entire contents of the phone were then inadvertently disclosed to the solicitor defending the officer.
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Data Protection Compensation Claims on a No Win, No Fee

Most people are aware of the No Win, No Fee with it being so prominent in areas of the law like personal injury claims.

Some people are not as aware of their rights when it comes to making a data protection compensation claim on a No Win, No Fee basis as well though. The facts are these: there are a lot of similarities and even crossovers in terms of personal injury and data protection law that can allow us to offer No Win, No Fee arrangements in similar ways.

The law can be more complex and does require Data Leak Lawyers like us who know how to help people properly. So let’s talk No Win, No Fee Data Leak Compensation Claims…
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Data Leak Law – Your Rights in Brief

People are still unsure about their rights to compensation as a victim of a data leak. It’s an emerging problem as the continuation of the digital age means more and more of our information can so easily be mishandled.

One wrong click of a button; a single mistype; a slip by staff clicking on a rogue email link – they can all lead to huge amounts of data being inadvertently put in the hands of people it shouldn’t have.

So, the aim of this blog is to give you a little bit of an insight – in brief – about your rights to claim.
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The 21st century commodity; YOUR information for sale

Information has never been more valuable than it is in today’s digital age. Information is everything – it tells others so much about you that it can be a really powerful tool to use for organisations who want to market their products and services to a targeted audience.

The problem now is that it’s so easy to take large chunks of data – possibly containing millions of people’s personal information – and pass this on to someone who could make a fortune from it.

Despite legislation we have in the UK, the sale of information can be a serious problem.
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