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Recent ICO data security incident trends

A data breach is the intentional or unintentional release of secure or private/confidential data by, say, employees, cyber-hackers, political activists or national governments.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the U.K.’s independent privacy watchdog who have the responsibility of upholding information rights for the benefit of the public interest. Though there isn’t a legal responsibility on companies and/or organisations to report all data security breaches, it’s considered good practice to do so.

Here’s a look at some of the recent data security incident trends from the ICO.
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Morrisons fined £10,500 for breaching data privacy rights

The 4^th largest supermarket chain in the U.K. has been fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) for breaking data protection laws in regards to how personal information is being used when sending marketing emails.

The ICO undertook an investigation into the supermarket chain after allegations were made by an individual that WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC (‘Morrisons’) were sending emails that customers had previously opted out of.

The Commissioner wrote to Morrisons on 28^th November 2016 notifying them of the complaint made against them.
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AA fails to notify their customers of data breach

Further to the AA data breach that occurred on 22^nd April 2017, there’s been further backlash as AA reportedly failed to notify customers of the breach.

The personal information that was breached related to customers of the AA’s online shop, operated by a third party, which sells maps, car accessories and other products to retailers and individuals.

Due to a server malfunction, personal data stored on two database backup files was accessible to the public.
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Health insurance company in the U.S. pays out a record $115 million after millions had personal data hacked

The U.S.’s second largest health insurance company, Anthem Inc, has agreed to pay out a record-breaking settlement over a huge data breach from two years ago.

Around 79 million people had their personal information compromised during the hack, and it’s safe to say Anthem are paying for their mistakes given the settlement. Data breach victims include current and former clients, and it’s thought that lawyers will need to sift through a lot of information to pinpoint exactly who was affected, how much data was compromised, and the impact the breach had on them.
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Growth in settlements for data breaches

Data protection laws around the world have allowed victims of serious data breaches to claim the compensation they rightfully deserve. As the number of data breaches seems to continually be on the rise, we’re seeing some huge settlements for breaches amongst cases where data has potentially been exposed forever.

The growth in data breach settlements may well continue to rise as well unless organsations get the vital grip they need on securing their servers and protecting the data they hold.
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Inquiry launched over University of East Anglia data leak blunder

The University of East Anglia (UEA) are facing an investigation over the shocking data breach that saw a number of students have their personal circumstances emailed directly to hundreds of fellow course mates.

The document listed extenuating circumstances of a number of students explaining why certain students were authorised to have an extension on assignments, postpone exams and take time off their course.

Some of the reasons included death or a family member, personal medical and mental health issues, and even sexual assault.
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Healthcare sector takes the number one spot for the sector with the most data breaches in the U.K.

Some might wonder why banking isn’t at the top. Surely, that’s where the big bucks are at?

But if you’ve been keeping up with our blogs, you’ll know that healthcare is not only a bigger target, but also one that can be easier for breaches to occur. It’s no secret that our National Health Service is struggling under immense pressure with increased patient numbers, continual budgets cuts, and “overworked and underpaid” staff.

With these financial struggles comes the inability to afford top quality cyber security and updated operating systems; leaving the healthcare system wide open to breaches and attacks.
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Data leaks caused by mobile phone devices

Many people forget the associated risks that portable digital devices come with. Many may have a false sense of security that computers are the main source of data breaches, but some may be quick to disregard mobile phones as a huge danger for leaking data.

Security researchers note the increased dangers of data leaks as more employees bring their own devices to work. If employees bring their own devices to the workplace, you can count this as an additional avenue for a breach to happen. Mobile devices are easily connected and employees are often allowed to connect mobile devices to their work servers to assist when working in or outside of the office.

You can see it either as another door for a data breach to happen or an opportunity to get inside as the door has been left open or is now weak enough to break in to…
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OneLogin’s data breach – Just how serious was it?

There’s a big demand for cyber security globally as the rise of the digital age continues to pave the way for data breaches, leaks and hacks on an almost continual basis.

Yet despite the rise in cyber security that goes hand in hand with the rise of cybercrime, it seems multiple companies and organisations are still failing in their obligations to protect data securely. In recent news, one of San Francisco Bay area’s most established companies has been hacked, potentially affecting thousands worldwide.
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77 million user account details hacked from popular education platform Edmodo

Reports of the recent Edmodo data breach inform us that around 77 million unique user account details were stolen from the popular education platform.

This online platform is widely used throughout U.S. and Canadian schools to support learning by allowing students, teachers and parents to access learning plans and homework. Media outlet Motherboard reported that nearly 77 million users account details were for sale on the dark web.
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