Why make a claim for the Virgin Media data breach?

If you’ve received notification that you’re affected by the Virgin Media data breach, you may be wondering: why make a claim at all?

It’s totally up to you as to whether you go ahead with a case or not. The law is there and it’s on your side, but it’s down to each and every victim to decide if they want to be a part of the group compensation action or not.

With this aspect in mind, here are some reasons as to why making a claim can be beneficial for you and for data protection on the whole.

As a victim, why make a claim?

As a victim of the Virgin Media data breach, why make a claim at all?

Well, it’s your legal right to make a claim for compensation. The GDOR allows victims whose information has been misused or exposed to claim damages for any distress suffered by the loss of control of your personal information, as well as for any financial losses too. The law recognises that it can be incredibly distressing to know that personal data about you is out there when you want it to remain confidential. It can also be worrying to know that at any time there may be someone out there with malicious intentions who may use the data to do financial harm.

There is, of course, the financial harm element if this applies too. Importantly, you don’t have to have suffered an actual financial loss to be able to make a claim.

We’ve been talking to the media about potential estimates of what some claimants could expect to receive. Initial estimates at the moment could mean claimants may be entitled to receive up to £5,000.00 in damages.

What a claim can do for data protection

If you care about data protection, why make a claim unless there’s some benefit that could arise from a compensation case?

As a matter of fact, the benefits could be huge for preventing future incidents occurring. A compensation action can lead to the organisation at fault for the breach (in this case Virgin Media) meeting the costs of claims if the action is successful. This can act as a punishment for what has happened, and this is important when data breach can be easily avoided.

Despite the introduction of the GDPR, there have been several high-profile breaches that have taken place since 2018. It’s clear that the law isn’t acting as the deterrent it should be which is why the matter of compensation actions should be something that all organisations need to consider. If this pushes them to take a proper look at their security and data protection policies and improve it, this is fantastic news for data protection in the UK.

The focus should always be on prevention!

You may still be wondering: why make a claim when there are already fines that can be imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)? Well, money from fines isn’t designed to be used as compensation for victims at all. It will normally end up in the public pursue, and whilst these fines are important, how is this any form of justice for the victims?

Making a claim is the way in which the victims themselves whose data has been misused or exposed can get some form of justice for what has happened to them.

What have you got to lose?

We’re representing our clients who make a claim for compensation with us on a No Win, No Fee basis.

So, what have you got to lose?

To get started today, just complete the forms on the main part of the website here.

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