Breaches leading to data for sale online

Criminals posting data for sale online could be one of the major risks that can arise from information breaches, leaks and hacks, and the importance of our work fighting for justice for victims is obvious.

This was certainly one of the risks that has been associated with the Virgin Media data leak that affected some 900,000 people, discovered in early 2020. We continue to represent thousands of people claiming compensation on a No Win, No Fee basis for this incident, and you can find out if you are still eligible to join the action by completing a few forms on our website here now.

The risks of breaches leading to data for sale online

Criminals putting data for sale online is one of the major risks that can arise from information exposure from a data breach, leak or hack event. Information has value, and one of the main reasons as to why hackers will try to steal data is so they can sell it on to make money.

There is already plenty of data for sale online on what is known as the “dark web”, which has been collected from various cyberattacks, leaks of information, and even from scraping publicly available information. By piecing together enough data, criminals could have enough to commit serious fraud and theft, including identity theft, with the aim of committing fraud and making money.

We often say that even a little bit of information can go a long way, and one of the reasons for this is because it can be combined (as outlined above) to try to build enough data to target somebody. Even then, personal contact details can be used by criminals to contact people where they then try to pass themselves off as legitimate organisations to try to steal more information, or dupe people into fraudulent activity.

Risks in the Virgin Media data leak

Somebody putting data for sale online was certainly one of the risks that has been prevalent from the Virgin Media data leak that was identified at the start of 2020. The reason for this is that the Virgin Media incident involved an unsecured database being left online and exposed for a period of 10 months. During this period, it has been confirmed that at least one unknown third party accessed the information. The person may have gone on to copy the data and then may have already sold it online, or may be planning to do so in the future.

Ultimately, criminals can sit on information for a considerable period of time before they actually use it. The fact is, criminals do not just try to break into systems and servers, they do also scour the internet to look for readily available information, such as that which was exposed in the Virgin Media incident.

As such, the risks are very real.

Find out if you can still join the group action now

We are now several years on from the start of the Virgin Media data leak incident and from when we launched our group action for compensation. We are fighting for justice on behalf of thousands of people who were affected by this incident, and we are doing so on a No Win, No Fee basis.

As we are at a much later stage, there are no guarantees in terms of being able to take forward new cases, but you can complete a few forms on our website now to find out if you are still eligible to join the action.

The content of this post/page was considered accurate at the time of the original posting and/or at the time of any posted revision. The content of this page may, therefore, be out of date. The information contained within this page does not constitute legal advice. Any reliance you place on the information contained within this page is done so at your own risk.