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.
For many businesses, so much of the work is conducted digitally, a fact that has only become truer since Covid-19 provoked a shift to more remote, online working. However, despite devoting significant expenses to IT resources, some businesses still fail to pay attention to data protection procedures and the tools required to operate their devices securely. From the small start-ups to the global conglomerates, all businesses need proper cybersecurity if they are to be trusted with personal data.
In the headlines, we regularly see data breaches that have occurred as a result of minor, needless oversights. With appropriate data protection and cybersecurity measures, many data security incidents can be avoided, so it is important that we hold businesses accountable when they fail to meet the standards required.
If you have been affected by a data breach for which a third-party organisation was responsible, you could be eligible to hold them to account via a data breach compensation claim. We know how damaging the effects of data exposure can be, which is why we aim to help as many victims to claim as possible.
In a data breach earlier this year involving Trafford Council, the personal information of residents had been publicly exposed. Personal details were reportedly taken as part of a resident survey, but the private information was understood to have not been redacted when the council sent a Freedom of Information request response to another resident.
Errors such as this seem to have become a common trait of council data breaches, with employees making needless mistakes that could be corrected with a few checks, and with greater attention to the appropriate procedures. Overall, the trend of human error data breaches at local authorities would suggest that there are inherent problems when it comes to data protection.
A lack of awareness in respect of data protection and cybersecurity is simply unacceptable in this day and age, in which the digitisation of personal information has the potential to make it a more accessible target for cybercriminals. While organisations bear the overall responsibility for compliance with data protection law, individual employees also have a role to play in eliminating data security risks.
Recent statistics revealed that there were over 2,300 police data breaches in 2020, according to figures on the number of incidents reported to the ICO. The high figure raises questions about how effectively the force is managing data protection risks and ensuring the cybersecurity of its systems, and whether similar statistics may emerge for the 2021 period which is shortly due to end.
These statistics are particularly concerning given the often extremely sensitive nature of the information held by the police, which can include personal details of crime witnesses and victims. Everyone who discloses personal information to the police should have the right to do so in the knowledge that it will be kept secure and only viewed for specific investigation or work-related purposes. However, there are many unfortunate cases in which people have been let down by the organisation that is supposed to protect them.
If you have been affected by a police data breach, you may be eligible for a compensation claim. Our expert lawyers can offer free, no-obligation advice on your case.
Hospital staff accessing medical records without any good reason to do so can amount to a serious breach of patient privacy and can allow victims to claim medical data breach compensation.
Any form of inappropriate access to confidential medical data can amount to an abuse of access rights and a breach of the GDPR. Those who have lost control of their personal information arising from such an incident could be eligible to pursue No Win, No Fee data breach claims.
Your Lawyers – The Data Leak Lawyers – are leading privacy claims experts, representing thousands of victims for data cases. We have secured damages for victims who have suffered from such data breach events, and our team is on hand to help anyone affected by an incident of this nature.
Usually run by local councils, social services hold large quantities of sensitive information about the people under their care. The private nature of the work they carry out means that they are required to keep to strict standards of confidentiality. If they fail to do so, perhaps if a social worker leaked information or failed to keep data secure, they may be in breach of data protection law.
Whether they are children in foster care, people with disabilities, or elderly residents of council care homes, there are thousands of people in the UK who have some form of care provided by their local authority. The integrity of social workers is generally taken for granted but there can, unfortunately, be individuals who let the good name of their profession down.
Their actions may have been accidental or intentional, but in either case, a social worker should be held accountable if they have compromised your right to privacy. By making a compensation claim, you can ensure that you achieve the justice you deserve.
Workplace data breach compensation claims can be one of the most severe types of privacy legal cases that we take on for victims on a No Win, No Fee basis.
The reason for this is that the nature of the information that can be exposed can be personal and sensitive, and it could be voluminous. This can mean that the impact for the victim can be substantial, which is why these kinds of legal cases can be so serious.
At Your Lawyers – The Data Leak Lawyers – as leading privacy claims experts, we represent a lot of people for workplace data cases. You can speak to the team for free, no-obligation advice here now.
Whether it’s a local agency or a nationwide chain, many property management firms may be perceived as prime targets for data hackers. Any organisation that stores extensive customer information could be seen as an opportunity for cybercriminals, so the possibility of a property management firm data breach is something all companies must aim to prevent.
Unfortunately, despite the growing awareness of data security issues in the media and among the general public, many data controllers fail to observe the data protection regulations set out in the law. Even for businesses that possess large quantities of sensitive customer information, data protection negligence can be a problem.
If you have had your data exposed by a third party due to their failure to protect it, you may be entitled to claim compensation. In accordance with the law, everyone has a right to have the personal data they disclose to third-party companies kept safe, so contact us for advice if you think you may have a claim to make.
Holding extensive quantities of information relating to buyers and sellers, estate agents can be prime targets for hackers. The threat of cybercrime appears to have grown in the past year, with attackers taking advantage of the vulnerabilities created by the coronavirus pandemic, and so estate agent cyberattacks may also represent a growing threat.
However, it is important to stress that hackers do not bear sole responsibility for data security incidents. If businesses and organisations fail to implement the necessary cybersecurity measures, they can be to blame for allowing cyberattacks to access their systems. Such may be the case for estate agencies if they fail to implement rigorous data protection methods.
If this happens, you could be eligible to pursue a claim for data breach compensation now.
Data breaches come with a range of different security risks, some of which can make victims vulnerable to financial loss. When a data breach exposes customer billing information, this risk can be even more pronounced, as the details could give cybercriminals direct access to credit cards or bank accounts.
As such, it is highly important that companies store customer payment information securely, and only retain details where absolutely necessary, or where the customer has given express permission for the data to be recorded. If they fail in any of these duties, they could be at fault should an unauthorised third party gain access to this information.
If you have had any payment information exposed in a data breach, you will probably know how stressful it can be to have the threat of financial crime looming over you. While it can be hard to trace the perpetrators of online theft and fraud, it is not as difficult to punish the data controller responsible for exposing your information. A data breach compensation claim can give victims the opportunity to see that justice is done.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been widely linked to increased cyber threats, some of which may have involved targetting Covid-19 patients’ data. As a global crisis, it is unsurprising that cybercriminals have been seeking to take advantage of the vulnerabilities that have emerged due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In fact, patients’ medical information has always been a prime target for cybercriminals, given the sensitivity of healthcare records generally. In our previous and ongoing data breach claims, some of the most harmful incidents have been those that have exposed private medical records, often resulting in victims suffering from severe psychological side-effects.
We are close to the year two mark of when the world changed, but the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, so the data security threat to the healthcare sector is still present. However, where healthcare organisations do not have appropriate defences in place, they could still be partially responsible when cyberattacks are successful. If you have been affected by a data breach as a result of the negligence of a healthcare organisation, you could be eligible to claim compensation now.
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The biggest data breaches of 2020
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