Virgin Media incident and how you can claim for a human error data breach

When an incident occurs, it is often termed as a “human error data breach”, and this term has been applied to the Virgin Media data leak uncovered earlier this year.

Human error data breaches occur regularly and can cause a great deal of harm, which is why they are important to highlight. It is vital to know that you can claim compensation for a human error data breach, and we will explain this here today.

Data breaches of any nature can be extremely serious, putting individuals at risk by exposing their highly sensitive personal data. The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) is in place to protect individual’s data and ensure organisations face serious consequences for causing a breach. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can investigate the circumstances of each breach and place fines on organisations, relevant to the seriousness of the breach.

A human error data breach can be more common than you think

A human error data breach can easily happen. A human error could be where an individual accidentally sends an email containing sensitive data to a number of recipients, or accidentally presses a button on a computer and reveals sensitive information to someone else.

In a lot of cases, a human error data breach can stem from poor data protection training. If organisations do not put their staff through the correct data protection training processes, there is likely to be a much higher chance of a data breach occurring. As well as this, organisations having poor data security software in place could result in an accidental data breaches occurring more often as well.

What could you claim for?

What could you claim for if your sensitive data has been exposed in a human error data breach?

We usually look at the following list when valuing compensation claims:

• Damages for being a victim generally;
• Any stress, worry and anxiety caused;
• Any recognised psychological injury or depression caused by, or exacerbated by, the incident;
• The effect that a leak has had on your social and domestic life;
• Lost earnings from time off work or for lost earnings if you have to leave your employment;
• Any other financial loss or expense that has been caused as a result of the incident;
• Private treatment expenses if this can help.

Losing control of your personal data, leaving it vulnerable to hackers and cybercriminals, can be extremely distressing. We are here to help in this event and can bring you the justice that you deserve.

In the case of the Virgin Media data breach, you can start a No Win, No Fee legal claim here now.

The Virgin Media Data Breach

The Virgin Media data breach is said to be a result of employee error resulting in an ‘incorrectly configured’ database. The breach occurred between April 2019 and 28^th February 2020, involving over 900,000 victim’s personal data.

The breach included names, email addresses, telephone numbers and, in some cases, information about contracts. This data being exposed could leave victims vulnerable to phishing scams and cold call attempts. If criminals are successful, there is the possibility of fraudulent activity.

Investigations into the breach revealed the database was accessed at least once by an unknown third-party, meaning all the data breached could be at risk.

We have been contacted by thousands of victims of the Virgin Media data breach who are looking for our support. Each victim could be entitled to up to £5,000 in damages, meaning there is a potential £4.5 billion pay-out for Virgin Media.

If you are one of the victims of the Virgin Media data breach, you could be entitled to claim financial compensation. Get in touch with our legal team to start your claim today.

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