We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.

Government data breaches can be incredibly serious, and when you look at why, it’s obvious. Victims of these kinds of data breaches should know their rights for justice as well, and this goes for both national and local government organisations.
I heard recently that a survey suggested that some IT bosses in the public sector consider that the data they hold is not as valuable as data in the private sector. Clearly, some of these individuals do not grasp the gravity of the extent of data that’s stored and processed by public sector organisations and would do well to consider this.
Given the nature of the data that they hold, and for how many people, any breach, leak or hack can be serious.

According to credit-reference agency Experian, there are increasing incidents of fraudsters targeting first-time buyers, and some of it can be related to data breaches.
As a firm of expert data breach compensation lawyers, this news doesn’t come as a surprise to us at all. First-time buyers can be vulnerable to the kinds of tricks and scams that criminals can pull off, particularly because of being thrown into the world of owning a home for the first time. Criminals could pose as a number of organisations or parties, and they could use information from data breaches to convince people that they’re the real deal.
This kind of problem demonstrates how bad a simple data breach can actually be for a victim when criminals use even small bits of seemingly “harmless” data that has been exposed in a breach to do serious damage.

There has been another West Berkshire Council data breach, and it again involves an email being sent to people that has leaked the information for the recipients.
Just a few weeks ago, we covered a breach from the same council which saw an email sent to around 30 people where the “BCC” function wasn’t used. In this more recent event, it’s another case where the “BCC” function wasn’t used, but this time, it’s understood to have affected over a thousand people.
The long and short of the issue is that council data breach compensation claims are incredibly common because of how easily these events occur. But these incidents are completely preventable, and the fact that there has been two from the same council in the space of just a few weeks is alarming.

Last month, the Tesco parking app data leak was discovered by The Register, and it involved the exposure of tens of millions of number plate images.
It was one of those cases of information that had been accidentally left exposed, and was accessible to anyone who came across it. It was also a clear example of one of the issues we’ve been talking about lately, which is the weaknesses that come with outsourcing information services.
Your defence is only as good as your weakest link, and when there are more links in the chain that arise from outsourcing, data controllers need to be vigilant.

An accountant data breach could lead to a significant amount of personal and sensitive information being misused or exposed, which is why the rights of victims to claim compensation is important.
Accountants and accountancy firms are in that category of companies responsible for processing and storing a great deal of sensitive information. The most obvious type of course is financial information, both on a personal level and on a company level.
Accountants are a target given the wealth and the nature of data they hold, so it’s important that they ensure they’re properly defended. Where a breach occurs, victims can be entitled to make a claim for data breach compensation.

This month’s news about the Bolton school data loss incident is incredibly worrying to hear about, especially given how vulnerable data in the wrong hands can be.
Although the document containing the pupils’ data has been reported as missing, and it may be the case that it has been lost forever or disposed of, there remains the risk that it could fall – or already has fallen – into the wrong hands.
As expert data leak lawyers, we’ve helped a lot of people with school data breach compensation claims over the years we’ve been fighting for justice. When it comes to vulnerable persons like children, any data incident can lead to significant distress suffered by the victims and their families.

It’s important to know your GDPR data breach rights, and as a pioneering data breach compensation law firm, our expert advice and representation can help.
I once read that, statistically, data breaches are more common than rain in the UK. Having lived here all my life, and travelled a fair few places around the world, that statement seems excessive. The weather, and how wet it is, is a common part of British life!
But it’s apparently true. So, with this in mind, let’s look at your GDPR data breach rights and how we can help you when it comes to making as claim for compensation.

An Isle of Wight Council data breach has arisen where the local authority reportedly sent other people’s information out to residents in dozens of council tax letters.
This appears to be yet another simple data leak that has taken place that involves a local authority. Councils hold a wealth of personal and sensitive data about a huge number of people, and their duty to safeguard it is incredibly important.
We represent many people making claims for council data breach compensation because of how common incidents can be. We’re therefore not surprised by this latest breach, but it’s still very worrying to hear about it; especially now we have GDPR in place that has put data protection in the limelight.

We deal with a lot of cases that involve NHS medical records exposed in various ways, but this has to be the one of the most worrying and bizarre stories we’ve ever seen.
It’s understood that 40 tightly-packed bales of partially-shredded and cut NHS medical records have been used to weigh down a sculpture in Milton Keynes town centre. It’s set to be unveiled this Thursday as part of the annual Festival of Urban Living, but it’s reported that bits of the papers used in the bales have been caught by the wind and have been blown around the area.
Some of the papers are said to have included visible personal details of medical records, including prescriptions and surgery information. This really is a serious, serious matter indeed.

A seriously concerning security flaw has been discovered which has reportedly allowed hackers to covertly put so-called monitoring implants in iPhones.
The vulnerability is said to have been discovered in January 2019, with Apple releasing a security patch in February 2019. It’s understood that Google’s external ‘white hat’ security team, known as Project Zero, are responsible for identifying the flaw.
There may be thousands upon thousands of people whose phones have been compromised in a way that could allow hackers to have had access to a disturbing wealth of information.
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