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

When it comes to the impact for victims and their rights that are enshrined in law, there’s simply no excuse when it comes to accidental data breaches.
Although “accidents happen”, as they say, there’s so much that organisations can – and must – do to prevent breaches and leaks. A lot of it is simple stuff, and a lot of it comes down to employers putting policies and procedures in place, and employees sticking to them.
We can show you how easy it is with a few simple examples. We can also advise about the rights of victims and inform you what you can do if you are ever the victim of a breach or a leak.

We’ve discussed the issue of the police misusing IT systems before, and it’s a topic that needs to be addressed a lot given the nature of the data that they’re charged with.
Officers and employees have access to huge amounts of data, some of which is very personal and very sensitive. When exposed, victims can be understandably distressed, and that’s where we can assist.
Victims of a data breach can be entitled to make a claim for compensation that stems from the loss of control of private and sensitive information. We may be able to represent you, and since no one is above the law, you shouldn’t worry about going up against the police.

We’ve seen a number of data breaches in 2019, as well as developments in some of the high-profile cases that we’re involved with.
As the year comes to a close, it’s a time to reflect on the fact that there have been 4 billion records breached so far, according to Norton. This is despite the introduction of the GDPR last year that should have pushed organisations into ensuring that leaks, breaches and hacks are always at a minimum.
As the issue of data breaches continues to affect us all, it’s also important for the victims to know their rights when their personal information has been misused or exposed.

There has been a large volume of gaming app data breaches in recent years, and it may well be a trend that’s set to continue as these kinds of apps grow in popularity.
Gaming apps are now used by millions across the world, and there are no doubt hundreds of even thousands of them to choose from worldwide. We’ve previously discussed the issues over many apps having poor security, which recently led to Facebook closing down links with hundreds of apps due to concerns.
Ultimately, people need to be careful. Not only do people need to consider who it is that’s going to be in charge of their personal information, but they also need to consider what happens if a security breach takes place.

There’s been an NHS South Central and West data leak. It’s a familiar story in terms of how the leak has happened and the fact that it appears to have been very preventable.
In this latest incident, thousands of families have reportedly been sent letters encouraging the uptake of flu vaccinations for children. Unfortunately, due to a “mail merge error”, names and addresses for children were somehow mixed up. The result of this is that parents and carers have received information for other people’s children.
Another huge leak that may have been entirely preventable that took place owing to events that have taken place before. NHS data breach compensation claims are one of the most common types of cases we take forward because of how often these kinds of incidents happen, and it’s clear to us that more needs to be done to prevent them from taking place.

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.
EasyJet admits data of nine million hacked
British Airways data breach: How to claim up to £6,000 compensation
Are you owed £5,000 for the Virgin Media data breach?
Virgin Media faces £4.5 BILLION in compensation payouts
BA customers given final deadline to claim compensation for data breach
Shoppers slam Morrisons after loyalty points stolen
Half a million customers can sue BA over huge data breach
Lawyers accuse BA of 'swerving responsibility' for data breach
The biggest data breaches of 2020
Fill out our quick call back form below and we'll contact you when you're ready to talk to us.