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West Sussex County Council apologises for data breach in inviting business owners to cybersecurity event

West Sussex County Council has apologised to numerous business owners for an ironic data breach that occurred in the process of inviting them to a cybersecurity event.

Located in Chichester, the Council sent an invite to some 200 individuals’ email addresses but used the wrong ‘blind carbon copy’ option, revealing the recipients’ email addresses to each other.

It’s a common form of breach – one that has had grave consequences in other cases, like that of the 56 Dean Street Clinic we are helping people claim for when they revealed the personal details of patients using the clinic for HIV services.
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711 million email addresses reportedly compromised by a Spambot called Onliner

A ‘spambot’ named Onliner has reportedly collected personal information tied to 711 million email addresses and dumped them on a server.

The spambot was designed to infect devices, spreading malicious software that could steal valuable personal information, as well as discharge viruses and spam/junk emails. Spam emails are not only a nuisance but they often carry phishing software; enticing users to click on seemingly harmless links that hide further malware. From there, cybercriminals can trick users into revealing more information, and sometimes bank details directly, as well as taking control of computers.
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Newcastle City Council leaks sensitive information on thousands of adopted children

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating Newcastle City Council after a data breach exposed the personal information of adopted children.

The north-eastern council has recently come under fire for the breach that saw the personal information of 2,743 adopted children – information which included sensitive data about the children, and included data on parents, social workers and former adoptees – sent out in an email by mistake.
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Millions of email accounts hacked by Russian hacker; or not?

Last week reports emerged that 272 million email accounts had been put up for sale on the dark web by a Russian hacker.

It spread an understandable wave of panic across the world as people scoured the internet to find out if their account had been compromised.

However, digital security experts now believe that the hack may have been a fake as part of a publicity stunt launched by the researcher who claimed to have discovered it.
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The University of Greenwich Data Leaks – why people SHOULD be concerned about fraud and identity theft

Whilst we’re not here to bring doomsday style headlines, we are here to help and advise victims of data leaks; and now that we’re acting for individuals who have been a victim of the University of Greenwich data leak, we want to ensure that our advice to our clients extends to those considering asking us for help as well.

Data leak law is what we do – so for those who have been affected, our legal team have a stern warning about making sure you take steps to protect yourself in the wake of the University of Greenwich data leak.
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Update on our progress fighting for victims of the 56 Dean Street Clinic leak

We are representing a group of victims who are claiming compensation as a victim of the 56 Dean Street Clinic leak where an email was sent to almost 800 people for HIV services without the emails / names of recipients obscured.

Whilst the media often used the term “human error” we do not see it this way at all. As a data controller, the clinic / Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust should never have allowed a situation to arise where this could happen. Systems should have been in place to ensure that any emails distributed to a group would be appropriately anonymised.

This isn’t the first leak of its kind and our action is aimed to ensure fair compensation for those affected, and to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

Six months on from the initiation of our action, we would like to update anyone considering joining the action with a little bit of an insight in to where we are with things.
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