Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

“Personal Devices Used as a Weapon to Hack” – DDoS attacks on DNS service provider, Dyn, led to many users losing internet connection recently

Millions of personal devices connected to the internet were used as a weapon to assist the cyber attacks that happened on Friday 21st October.

The tools assisted the cyber hackers to launch a huge DDoS cyber attack against major websites – the target of the attack being a DNS service provider, Dyn, based in New Hampshire, U.S.

It was a huge attack.
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“Data breach fines that could dismantle a company” – The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council imposes a new EU regulation that could impose £122 billion worth of data breach fines on U.K. companies, taking effect in 2018

As cyber-attacks are on a continual upward trend, so is the need for real and robust data protection.

This is shown in the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council’s (PCI SSC) statement where new penalties are to be enforced under EU data protection regulations for data breaches. Any financial penalty should scare any organisation from potential data breaches until the end of times!

The figures are staggering!

It’s reported that UK companies could face up to £122 billion in fines if they violate data protection principles, which is a lot of money.
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“Did Weebly do enough to fend off the hackers?” – Weebly and Foursquare in a potential breach of their customers’ personal information

In the string of data breaches this decade has given rise to, website builder Weebly are next in line.

It’s thought that 43 million users’ personal details were leaked as part of a massive breach. I can say with certainty that this will not be the end of data breaches, as many companies and organisations lack the security and protection needed to fend off the cyber-criminals of today. However, it is not enough for companies to be reactive; they need to be proactive to ensure the safety of our personal data.

Especially a company like Weebly who are handling websites for people and businesses around the world!
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“Medical records are the new hot commodity” – The scale of healthcare hacks are massive, with some 10 million medical records reportedly for sale on the ‘dark web’

10 million medical records for sale on the so-called ‘dark web’ – that is frightening!!!

The scale of healthcare hacks seems to be on the rise, and it does not show any signs of slowing down at the moment.

This is a massive threat to data protection and privacy. Earlier this year, there was a record of 10 million medical records apparently for sale on the ‘dark web’ that were reportedly stolen from a big U.S. insurance company.
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“Big Brother Style Surveillance” – Yahoo allegedly handing over emails to U.S. Intelligence Officials

In the midst of ongoing cyber hacks that have seen information from millions of accounts from all sorts of services leaked online, Yahoo are alleged to have conceded to U.S. Intelligence Agency’s demands to search through customers’ email accounts for information.

This claim comes from the scandal that erupted last year, when Yahoo was found to be in breach of data protection rights when 500 million user accounts were illegally accessed. If found to be true, it is argued that Yahoo could be in serious breach of data protection rights, and may consequently face big penalties.
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“Security Breach that Cost TalkTalk £400k” – The major telecom company fined for the lack of security protection of customer accounts

Can you put a figure on stolen data? You can in terms of fines and compensation payouts.

Major U.K. telecom company TalkTalk has been fined £400,000 for the cyber-attack which happened in October last year. Up to 4 million customer details were thought to have been accessed, but it was later confirmed that around 157,000 accounts were directly accessed in the breach.
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“The state who funds hackers” – Rumours of hackers who were sponsored by the state to hack Yahoo accounts

More than half a billion Yahoo user accounts were hacked in 2014. The hack is the latest of the recent big hacking scandals, like Last.fm in March 2012, dating websites Ashley Madison and Beautiful People, and a whole host of others.

However, the popular email server’s hack is thought to be the ‘largest internet theft on record’ (source). The personal data that was hacked included the names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of births, and passwords of affected users. What is more concerning is the suggestion of a “state-sponsored actor” being behind the cyber theft. Intelligent agencies across the globe are investigating the matter.
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“Password protected… or are we?” – 43 million passwords in Last.fm hacking scandal

The hack of the music streaming platform, Last.fm, reportedly happened in March 2012, but it has taken a few years to uncover its true extent.

Earlier this month, an investigation found that a staggering figure of 43,570,999 user accounts had fallen victim to the hacking; a huge number.

In terms of how this stacks up with other hacks, it’s certainly up there with the volumes of people affected.
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Wrongful access to medical records

Our medical records are private and often very sensitive. Only those who we allow should access our medical records, and there should always be a good and justifiable reason to do so.

Despite this rather obvious sentiment, wrongful or needless access, or use of, medical records remains a problem that we have had to help people claim for. It can sometimes be people we know who have access to our records and access them for wrongful means, or it could be someone accessing records to change them, or to use information from them for financial gain.

It happens, and we have helped people who have had to claim when their records have been unduly accessed.
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Hacked webcam live streams 8 year old girl’s bedroom online

A mother in Houston, Texas, was unaware that the private webcam in her two eight year old daughter’s room, that was intended to keep an eye on the girls, had been hacked.

Live footage of the two girls was being streamed online for anyone to view.

The live stream had been online for thousands to view since July. It was only when another mother came across the feed and created a Facebook group for Houston mothers with screen shots of the girl’s bedroom online in order to find the mother.
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