Forest of Dean Council selling data and the Equifax breach

The Forest of Dean Council selling data to Equifax means that residents of the area may be affected by the Equifax data breach scandal.

We’re already acting for a large number of victims of the Equifax data breach since we launched our legal action last year. Although Equifax has been fined the maximum allowed under the old rules by the ICO, our legal action is for compensation for victims. This is separate to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) penalty for breaching the law.

We, of course, cannot go into detail about who we’re acting for with our legal action. What we can say though is that, based on recent news from Gloucestershire Live, a large number of Forest of Dean residents may be affected by the Equifax data breach.

Forest of Dean Council selling data to Equifax: what this means

Forest of Dean Council selling data to Equifax isn’t surprising. Councils do sell information to third-parties where they’re allowed to.

According to Gloucestershire Live, the Forest of Dean Council has made more than £2,000.00 selling electoral data to Equifax since 2012. All in all, it’s understood that they’ve made almost £7,500.00 from selling residents’ data to other companies as well as Equifax.

Data is the “new currency”, so this doesn’t surprise us.

The Forest of Dean Council selling data to Equifax does mean that residents there may be affected by the Equifax cyber-attack of last year. It’s understood that there may be more than 65,000 residents from the Forest of Dean area who may be affected.

Can Forest of Dean Council selling data to Equifax result in a claim?

Forest of Dean Council selling data to Equifax means that those residents whose information has been compromised or exposed in the Equifax data breach may have a claim.

The case for data breach compensation would simply fall within the legal action we’ve already launched, which is against Equifax directly.

Where residents had not allowed for their data to be passed on or sold, this can be a failure to process data fairly for the victim as well.

For more information about the Equifax data breach legal action we’re representing victims for, please click here.

Lancashire County Council data protection concerns

Have you been affected by a Basingstoke council data breach?