Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
We’ve seen some worrying Birmingham Hospital data breach figures off the back of recent data released about NHS data incidents.
Birmingham Hospital sits at the top of the pile for 2017 data losses and thefts. According to a Freedom of Information request, some 10,000 documents went missing or were stolen in 2017 within the NHS. Over 3,000 of those were from Birmingham Hospital alone.
The figure of 10,000 missing or stolen documents is a horrendous amount. How can so many documents go missing when they’re likely to contain very sensitive and private information?
Are private health sector data breaches on the rise? With more and more people opting for private healthcare, this may be the case.
Although the overall healthcare sector has long led the way in terms of volumes of breaches, the private health sector has its problems as well. Cyber criminals have been known to specifically target the private health sector. These companies hold a wealth of financial and medical data about us, and these companies are often very wealthy themselves.
They can make for huge targets for ransomware attacks.
Former nurse at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, Clare Lawson, joins the long list of prosecuted NHS staff caught snooping on medical records.
We’ve ran so many stories about the prosecutions and penalties enforced by the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) for snooping. The NHS hold a vast wealth of medical data about us, and it’s all private and often very sensitive. We put our faith in the NHS and their staff to look after our confidential information and not abuse their access to it.
This is yet another prosecution for the improper access of medical records. These kinds of medical data breaches are common for us to represent people for.
The Everest Pharmacy Data breach appears to be another simple and avoidable error that has led to a breach of private information.
In this incident, the names of people were accidentally published on the pharmacy’s website. As well as the names, there was also a code and a date. We can only assume that the information related to prescriptions for people, which is personal medical information.
It has not yet been confirmed as to how the breach occurred. The breach involved the Darwen town pharmacy branch in Lancashire.
A Bupa data breach has led to a significant fine from regulators in the sum of £175,000.00 after 198 complaints were made.
The breach period occurred between January and March 2017, meaning it has not attracted a GDPR fine. However, a large fine was levied because Bupa were found to have failed to take enough action to protect their customers’ data.
It has also transpired that customer data was vulnerable at the time of the initial data breach. This stemmed from a lack of monitoring of their customer relationship management system, known as SWAN.
Former GP Dr Thair Altaii was found guilty of voyeurism at Newcastle Crown Court earlier this year. Over 19,000 images of women were found in his possession.
The 55-year-old former “trusted family doctor” was caught with the images and video footage after a patient raised concerns about being recorded. During her appointment, she’d noticed two mobile phones propped up; one facing a chair, and the other facing the examination table. Police were informed, and after Dr Altaii initially denied having any such material in his possession after arrest, a shocking discovery was later found when his laptop was seized.
Here, we’ll look at this in terms of legal advice for a data protection claim.
The issue of the NHS sending wrong patient records simply must stop. It’s a common form of breach that often leaves victims with no choice but to start legal action.
As a victim of the NHS sending the wrong patient records, which includes your records, you can be eligible to claim for data breach compensation. It typically happens where information is legitimately requested, but they either send out the wrong patient records or accidentally include the wrong patient records with the request.
There have been plenty of news stories and ICO interventions where the NHS has not handled patient records correctly, and we feel more should be done to prevent such issues.
We are representing people claiming in an NHS Digital compensation action we have initiated for victims of the recent NHS data breach.
Some 150,000 patients who had registered for the “type 2 opt-out” of their data being shared from their GP using the SystemOne application were subject to a coding error that resulted in their opt-out not being honoured. As such, their private and sensitive medical data that they had specifically opted out for being shared with NHS Digital was in fact shared because the coding error resulted in the opt-out notification not being referred to NHS Digital.
This was an entirely avoidable incident which is why we have launched NHS Digital compensation cases for those who have been affected and have contacted us asking for our help and representation.
The Poole Hospital data breach stemmed from the simple act of patient data being exposed from a stolen bag.
It’s understood that the stolen bag had been discarded and hidden in the hospital and contained patient data; the likes of which is always private and very sensitive. This is yet another simple data breach stemming from an entirely avoidable incident, and it doesn’t help the already problematic situation of healthcare sector data breaches.
Patients affected by the Poole Hospital data breach have been informed of the incident.
Our NHS Digital data breach compensation action is well under way with a number of victims affected by the huge data breach already signed up to our service.
News of the massive breach affecting some 150,000 patients came just weeks after the new GDPR legislation came into force at the end of May 2018. A simple case of a software error is the underlying cause of the NHS Digital data breach, and with the healthcare sector already leading the way in terms of data breach incidents, this situation is unwelcome news.
Many people have approached us for help, and our Data Leak Lawyers have listened to their concerns and agreed to take cases forward.
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