But they really have to up their game when it comes to protecting our data A report last month in the Guardian confirmed that “NHS Digital is revising its process for booking Covid vaccinations in England after the discovery of a ‘seriously shocking failure’ that leaked medical data from the site. The website lets users make appointments [...]

It is no secret that the healthcare sector experiences the highest number of data breaches annually. And the sector has become even more attractive to cyber criminals (and even more prone to human errors) given that, in recent months, health organisations have had to focus on the Coronavirus pandemic. The NHS and all related health [...]

Information relating to our health is often of an extremely personal and confidential nature and is classified as special category data under data protection law. This means (generally speaking) that it cannot be disclosed without the consent of the patient. Yet data breaches by the NHS and healthcare organisations remain the most common data breach [...]

Birmingham City Council has suffered a serious data breach incident in which information relating to “vulnerable” children. Their data was mistakenly uploaded to a Brum account, a website that allows taxpayers to access services offered by the local authority. The authority has said that the breach happened as a result of human error – with [...]

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 [...]