Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

Kiddicare customer data breach

The details of almost 800,000 customers of UK baby and child retailer Kiddicare have been stolen from a version of their website it had been using for testing.

Customers reported receiving suspicious messages that had not been sent by Kiddicare, and following an investigation, the data breach was linked back to a test website they had used which led to customer data being compromised.

The company has reported itself to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) in light of what has happened.
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56 Dean Street Clinic Fined £180,000 by ICO; a move welcomed by our lawyers leading the fight for justice

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has concluded its investigations in to the 56 Dean Street Clinic data leak that saw the confidential HIV status of over 700 patients inadvertently leaked by email.

Our lawyers fighting for justice have welcomed the move by the ICO to fine the clinic following the breach. We’ve taken on a large number of cases since the leak, and we’re still taking instructions now (with the latest few being this week).
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Blackpool NHS Fined £185,000 for serious Data Protection Breach

Personal and sensitive data of thousands of employees working for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was inadvertently posted online.

The discovery was made on 30^th January 2015 and reportedly affects more than 6,500 employees when a spreadsheet containing highly confidential information was published online back in March 2014.

The data included names, national insurance numbers, birth dates, religious beliefs, pay scales, disability statuses, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

This is a serious breach of data protection and one of the worst we have ever seen here in the UK.
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Health and Social Care Information Centre signs ICO undertaking after failing to protect against medial data sharing

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has signed an undertaking to comply with its requirements under the Data Protection Act, having fallen short in the past.

Patients whose data they were dealing with were offered an “opt-out” option for certain data being shared with other organisations, but this was not honoured. As such, anyone who opted out still had their information shared anyway without their consent.

The HSCIC has now reportedly agreed to take a series of steps and have signed an undertaking to ensure they comply with their obligations in the future.
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ICO fine Kent Police £80K for serious data breach of alleged domestic abuse victim

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has fined Kent Police £80,000 after the entire contents of an alleged domestic abuse victim’s mobile phone were disclosed to the alleged assailant.

The victim had given her phone to Kent Police on the grounds it contained video footage of the alleged abuse. The contents were copied, but the domestic abuse court case was discontinued.

Her former partner who was accused of the abuse was actually a serving officer at Kent Police and faced separate misconduct proceedings, and as part of the separate case, the entire contents of the phone were then inadvertently disclosed to the solicitor defending the officer.
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Capita Disability Benefits Assessor admits taking photos of applications – a serious breach of the Data Protection Act

In the wake of the ongoing saga over how disability benefit funds are allocated, Channel 4’s Dispatches program launched an undercover investigation in to what really goes on when applicants are assessed for help.

What they discovered was shocking – amongst the footage and evidence gathered, which showed disgraceful and unfeeling abuse from assessors who were caught red handed admitting to poor practice, was one assessor admitting that he takes photos of applications to prove he has done them so he can get paid for his work.

This is a serious and intentional breach of the Data Protection Act.
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Making a data leak claim – in absolute confidence

OK, so you’ve been the victim of a data leak, and you want to seek compensation for what’s happened. That’s your right to do so, and our specialist Data Leak Lawyers can help you to claim because we’re experts in representing victims for data leaks and hacks.

But, as a data leak victim, we imagine you’re already upset enough that your personal and confidential data has been leaked without your authority. This begs the question then – can you make a data leak claim confidentially?
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University of Greenwich Data Leak – how do you know if you’re affected?

We’ve accepted instructions to act for victims of the University of Greenwich data leak that saw hundreds (but potentially thousands) of people’s personal information visible on the university website.

Information included personal contact details; medical information; private family information; progress reports; and even signatures of students. The information had been visible for public view, and although it still isn’t clear how this has happened, the current theory is that the information was supposed to be on a secure portal and not supposed to be accessible from Google searches.

As well as acting for individuals who have received confirmation that they have been affected, we have also been contacted by people who want to know if they have been affected or not.
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University of Greenwich – Data Leak Lawyers now instructed to act for victims

We’ve been contacted by a number of people affected by the University of Greenwich data leak which saw hundreds (although potentially more) students have their personal information posted on the university website.

Information may have been accessible for several years, and it included personal, financial, and medical information about a number of students. Although the distress alone of your personal information being available online is bad enough, there is a real risk of identity fraud issues because financial and contact information, and even signatures of students, were posted.
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Looking Back; the data breaches defining history – British Gas

The trend of hackers successfully targeting big firms and leaking millions of innocent victim’s data is on the rise. We’ve covered lots of breaches and hacks in recent news, and were acting for large numbers of people who have fallen victim to some of the most serious data breaches we have ever experienced here in the UK.

In October 2015 we saw British Gas hit by a significant data breach on the same week that TalkTalk and Marks & Spencer’s were hit, leaving the energy giants having to contact thousands of customers who had been affected.
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