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“Former NHS employee breaches data protection” – The ICO has fined a former employee around £1,300

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) prosecuted and fined a former NHS employee, Beverley Wooltorton, for the unlawful access of personal information.

The fine imposed amounted to around £1,300 under section 55 of the Data Protection Act (DPA), where it’s unlawful for individuals to obtain personal data ‘knowingly’ (in this case) or ‘recklessly’ without the consent of the data controller, as well as accessing the information for personal reasons.
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“Netflix’s precautionary measure” – Netflix urges users to change passwords to enhance data protection

Netflix users are being urged to change their passwords following a data hack from another company. This may be a precautionary measure though, and it started when Netflix found some users were using the same passwords across accounts.

This concern was further cemented with the confirmation of another company’s data being hacked and leaked. The leaked data flags up warning signs that Netflix users who are using the same passwords across accounts may have their data breached in a sort of domino effect.
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“Home Office request data of 2,500 children” – The Home Office’s request for schools consensus data may be a breach of data protection rights

The Home Office’s demands for schools’ census data may be a breach of human rights and data protection rights. They have requested information for some 2,500 children in relation to immigration enforcement over the past 15 months.

This in itself is a pretty sensitive subject off the back of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union. But equally as important is the fact that this request may actually be a breach of people’s rights.
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“Ransomware demands drop” – More and more cyber-attackers are demanding less; in a bid to victimise more

Cyber-hacks are becoming more and more sophisticated, and nowadays some cyber-hackers are demanding less from their victims to pay up.

Sometimes, people may feel there is no other way than paying up the ransom to gain access to your computer again. But as with most “products” or “services” there is usually a marginal propensity to pay – which is basically the willingness of someone to pay a price.

Would you pay £100 for a bottle of 2 litre milk? Probably not. Would you pay a pound for it? I’m sure you would.

Well, the hackers are employing the same tactic to make sure it’s cheap enough for people to pay as opposed to calling the police…
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“Every little (cybersecurity) helps” – 20,000 Tesco customer bank accounts accessed in cyber attack

Tesco are the latest corporation to fall victim to a major cyber-attack.

It’s thought that 20,000 customer bank accounts were affected following an attack, leading to a full investigation with the National Crime Agency which is now well underway.

This is also thought to be the first time a bank has acted very publicly about such an attack. There has long been concerns about what organisations are keeping from us. in terms of cybersecurity issues…
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“Facebook and WhatsApp data sharing” – Is the data sharing an infringement on EU data protection principles?

It has been quite a busy time for the European’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP29). After writing an open letter to Yahoo addressing the data breach which caused over 500 million users personal details to be stolen, the WP29 has also written to WhatsApp.

The concern surrounds the change in WhatsApp’s privacy settings, where it allowed Facebook to access their users’ data.

Is this an infringement?
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The University of Greenwich Data Breach compensation claims

Six months ago in June of this year, the University of Greenwich found themselves in hot water when a student notified the BBC that a simple google search had revealed private and personal information accidentally uploaded by the University about numerous students.

Hundreds of post-graduate research students at the University were subject to this massive data leak, with a great deal of the information not only sensitive and private in nature, but also financially sensitive, leaving people open to the possibility of fraud.
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The 56 Dean Street Clinic Breach – A look back on what happened

Last year in September, a sexual health clinic based in Soho, London, revealed almost 800 of their patients’ private information to each other by mistake – i.e. the other patients – when an email was sent to the list of people where the names and addresses for the other recipients were not hidden.

This has resulted in one of the biggest data breaches in the history of the NHS, and has led to us fighting for the rights of numerous people who have been affected by the breach.
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WP29’s open letter to Yahoo to explain mass data breach, involving more than 500 million user accounts

Following the massive Yahoo data leak – which involved over 500 million user accounts being accessed – the EU’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP29) has put tremendous pressure on the multinational technology company to explain the breach.

This can only be a good thing – these mass data breach organisations need to be held to account, and need to be robustly questioned on how they have managed to allow such breaches to happen!
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“Open data requires the same level of protection as private data” – Sir Tim Berners-Lee warns that not protecting open data could “create chaos”

There are fresh concerns that open data could “create chaos” as the father of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, warns that open data should have a public infrastructure, and requires the same level of protection as private data.

As the world continues to rely more and more on data that can be transferred in the blink of an eye, has he got a point?
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