Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has been granted summary judgment in her legal battle with Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publishers of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Ms Markle began legal action against ANL in 2019 in response to a publication by the Mail on Sunday of a letter the Duchess sent to [...]
Personal data is the life blood of social services. Whether providing the care needs of the elderly and disabled, assessing the suitability of foster carers or protecting the welfare of abused children, they need to know sensitive and confidential information to carry out their tasks. All the more reason therefore, for social services to be [...]
In January of this year the BBC reported that Hackney Council had been subjected to a “serious cyber-attack”. This resulted in the publication on the dark web of the personal details of the council staff and residents. In addition, the attack affected the various services Hackney residents relied on, including the council’s ability to process [...]
Data breaches by local authorities have unfortunately become very common. Where a council or a body under the council’s authority, such as social services, has breached your data, you may be eligible to make a claim for compensation for any financial loss or distress suffered as result of the breach. Given the sensitive nature of [...]
NHS Trusts and Hospitals control and process highly sensitive and personal patient data, and have a duty to keep that data safe and secure. And, for the most part, they do. However, DRM Legal receive a steady flow of enquiries regarding data breaches by hospitals and other health providers. These breaches can happen as a [...]
Data breaches by universities are becoming ever more frequent. And considering the amount of personal data universities hold in relation to both their students and employees, they face an onerous responsibility in ensuring the safety and security of that data. Universities, like many other large organisations, have been the targets of cyber and phishing attacks [...]
Social services are under the control of local councils. They handle the highly personal information of some of the most vulnerable members of society. As such, they have a duty to keep such information safe, secure, and confidential. Any breach of this duty may be deeply distressing to those affected. Recently, there has been increased [...]
Crime records including arrest history, DNA and fingerprints have been deleted in error from the Police National Computer (PNC). Deputy Chief Constable Naveed Malik states that: “Approximately 213,000 offence records, 175,000 arrest records and 15,000 person records have potentially been deleted [from the PNC] in error. In terms of understanding the potential linkage between records, [...]
Council data breaches East Devon District Council East Devon District Council has suffered a significant data breach. As a result of the data breach 37 of the councillors have had their passwords published online. The Council’s IT provider, Strata, in error, added the email passwords to the online profiles of the individual councillors. Jess Bailey, [...]
Sandicliffe Motor Group, a vehicle dealership with a total of 10 sites in Nottingham, Leicester and Loughborough has revealed details of a cyber-attack. It has been reported that the incident may have affected “thousands” of staff and customers. On becoming aware of the breach on 20 February this year Sandcliffe immediately launched an investigation [...]