Data breaches identified by third parties – Virgin Media

Data breaches identified by third parties often mean that information has been exposed for a prolonged period of time before the issue is rectified.

This can mean that there are greater risks for the victims involved who may be at imminent risk of fraud and theft without even knowing that they could be targeted. It is right (and the law) that an organisation affected by a privacy breach informs victims who are involved as quickly as possible to allow them to be vigilant and to protect themselves from falling victim to crime. When people are not forewarned, they are not forearmed.

The Virgin Media data leak group action that we are pursuing for thousands of people is an example of this kind of incident, which affected some 900,000 people with information exposed for a 10-month period.

Worries over data breaches identified by third parties

Major worries over data breaches identified by third parties often comes down to how long information has been exposed for. Generally speaking, the longer that data has been exposed without the victims knowing about it, the greater the risks can be in some cases.

This can mean that people are at an immediate risk of fraud and theft and they will not even know about it. Unless an organisation who has been affected by a data breach has informed people that they could be affected, and that they need to be vigilant, how are people supposed to know that they could be targeted?

There have been several incidents of data breaches identified by third parties in the past, and the Virgin Media leak is one such event.

The Virgin Media data leak story

When it comes to data breaches identified by third parties, the Virgin Media privacy leak is a case in point. In this case, a database was accessible online for a period of 10 months between April 2019 and February 2020. The exposed data was identified by a third party security researcher who then alerted Virgin Media to the problem. Unfortunately, during the 10-month period in which the information was exposed, at least one other unauthorised third party is understood to have accessed the information.

Hackers and criminals often use the same methods to find easily exposed information security researchers do. Leaving information exposed for a prolonged period of time is essentially an open goal for hackers to exploit. In the Virgin Media data leak case, the database that was accessible contained the information for some 900,000 people. As such, this was a significant incident that put almost a million people at risk of fraud and theft.

Find out if you are still in time to claim now

The Virgin Media data leak compensation action has been ongoing since the start of 2020 when people were informed of their involvement in the incident. We are now at an advanced stage with  our cases, but you may potentially still be in time to join the group action. If you are still eligible to claim, we may be able to represent you for a case on a No Win, No Fee basis.

You can start the process here now to find out if you are still entitled to pursue compensation.

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