The downfall of Virgin Media? Trust in breached companies can fall

It is undoubtable that customer trust in breached companies can fall after a data incident, and telecoms giant Virgin Media is no exception.

Responsible for one of the most infamous and large-scale data breaches that came to light in 2020, Virgin Media hit the headlines when it was revealed that the information of 900,000 people, mostly customers, had been exposed for around 10 months after a database was left unsecured.

This infamy has brought about significant repercussions for the company; not only in the form of damning news coverage, but also by way of the legal action we have launched. We are a leading consumer rights and data compensation law firm taking action against Virgin Media, and you can join our group action now if you have been affected by this data leak and wish to claim compensation.

Why does trust in breached companies fall?

In our view, the negligence that Virgin Media is responsible for must not be understated. The monitoring of database security must have been incredibly poor for such a security error to go unnoticed for some 10 months. As a result of the incident, phone numbers, email addresses and home addresses of affected victims were left vulnerable to misuse. Unfortunately, Virgin Media identified that the exposed data was accessed “on at least one occasion” by an unknown third-party.

It is unsurprising that trust in breached companies falls in situations such as this. Victims can feel they have become an easy target for cybercriminals when something like this happens. The sense of betrayal can be severe, damaging their faith to such an extent that they suffer from prolonged psychological distress, and consequently feel anxious whenever handing over their data to a third-party in the future.

How can companies like Virgin Media regain customers’ trust?

In the wake of data breaches, companies are often keen to make statements of remorse, vowing to up their cybersecurity measures to ensure such an event never reoccurs.

But when trust in breached companies falls, it is not so easily reinstated. Such attempts to patch up a damaged company reputation can often seem insincere, as many companies have no excuse. They already knew what the government regulations were before the breach, and their failure to impose sufficient security procedures can amount to negligence.

To regain trust, breached companies must commit to thorough investigations to ensure that all system vulnerabilities are resolved. In the case of Virgin Media, we also believe that compensating their affected victims can help to show that they now accept their data protection responsibilities, and ensure that there is some form of justice for the victims affected.

What to do as a Virgin Media data breach victim

As specialists in data breach cases and actions, we recognise how severe the effects can be when your trust in breached companies is affected by an incident.

Such betrayals of trust require effective punishment and justice for those affected. If you are an affected victim who wants to ensure that Virgin Media is dissuaded from neglecting its duties again, and you want some form of justice for you, join our Virgin Media group action here.

If you have been a victim of the Virgin Media data breach, you can trust us to fight for the compensation that you deserve. Based on our current estimations, we believe that the compensation for eligible claimants could amount to as much as £5,000.

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