Find Out How To Report A Data Breach

If your personal data has been compromised in a breach, you may be wondering how to report a data breach and who to.

Within this guide, we explain how to make a report after your personal data has been compromised. Additionally, we explain who the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) are and when you could make a report to them.

Furthermore, we share when you could be eligible to make a data breach compensation claim and how our panel of solicitors can work on claims on a No Win No Fee basis.

To discuss your circumstances with our friendly team of advisors, you can use any of the following contact methods:

• Call us on 020 8050 3051
• You may also contact us through our website.
• Or, you can open the live chat window on your screen now.

Choose A Section Of Our Guide

1. How To Report A Data Breach
2. Can I Contact The ICO If My Personal Information Has Been Involved In A Data Breach?
3. Can I Claim Compensation If I’ve Reported A Data Breach To The ICO?
4. Contact Us To See If You Can Make A Data Breach Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis
5. More Useful Resources About Claiming For Personal Data Breaches

How To Report A Data Breach

Personal data is any information that can be used to identify you, such as your name or national insurance number.

All data controllers and data processors need to adhere to rules and regulations set out within the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) when processing the data of UK residents. These sit together as data protection laws.

Data controllers (usually organisations) decide how and why your personal data is being processed. Data processors process data on behalf of a data controller.

If either of these parties were to not adhere to data protection law, this could lead to a data breach. This is classed as a security incident which impacts the integrity, availability or confidentiality of personal data.

If your personal data has been breached, you might be wondering how to report the data breach and to who.

If you discover the data breach, you could make a report to the organisation responsible. Within this report, you can ask them to confirm if your personal data has been compromised and, if so, what. You can also ask them to explain the steps and measures they are taking to prevent a similar breach from occurring again.

You should keep any correspondence with the organisation responsible for the breach, as this could be used as evidence if you decide to make a personal data breach claim.

Continue reading to see when you may have a valid claim. You can also contact our advisors for free advice on what steps you could take following a breach of your personal data.

Can I Contact The ICO If My Personal Information Has Been Involved In A Data Breach?

If you have discovered your personal data has been breached, or you have been informed it has via a notification letter or email from an organisation, you could also make a report to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The ICO is the UK’s independent authority that upholds data protection rights. They can also issue fines to organisations that have breached data protection laws.

You can make a complaint to the ICO about a data breach within 3 months of your last meaningful communication with organisation responsible for the breach. If you leave it any longer than this, the ICO may not investigate.

Should the ICO investigate the breach, their findings could be used as evidence if you decide to make a personal data breach claim.

Contact our advisors today to learn more about how to report a data breach to the ICO or what you should do if your data is breached.

Can I Claim Compensation If I’ve Reported A Data Breach To The ICO?

Regardless of whether you have reported a personal data breach to the ICO or not, you could still be eligible to make a compensation claim.

However, you will need to ensure that your case meets the personal data breach claiming criteria. This is:

1. An organisation failed to adhere to the rules and obligations set out in data protection law.
2. This lead to your personal data being breached.
3. This breach caused you to suffer psychological harm, financial losses, or both.

There are various types of incidents that could lead to a data breach compensation claim. For example, if the receptionist at your GP surgery sent a letter containing your medical data to the wrong address even though you informed them of your new current address.

To see whether you may have a valid claim, you can speak with a member of our advisory team.

Contact Us To See If You Can Make A Data Breach Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis

Now that we have looked at how to report a data breach and how this could help you with making a compensation claim, you may also want to consider working with a solicitor if you have a valid case.

The solicitors on our panel have years of experience working on various types of data breach claims, and could help you:

• Gather evidence to support your claim, such as medical records and payslips.
• Explain any legal jargon used throughout the claims process.
• Communicate with he defendant.
• Negotiate your compensation settlement.

Furthermore, the expert solicitors on our panel could work on your claim under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Advantages of working with a solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis under this agreement include:

• There’s no need to pay any upfront solicitor’s service fees.
• There are no ongoing fees for work performed by your solicitor.
• Nothing to pay for the work your solicitor has provided if the claim fails.
• If the claim does succeed, your solicitor will take a success fee from you. This is a legally limited percentage of your compensation.

Contact our advisors today to discuss your case and see whether you could claim with a solicitor on our panel:

• Call us on 020 8050 3051
• You may also contact us through our website.
• Or, you can open the live chat window on your screen now.

More Useful Resources About Claiming For Personal Data Breaches

Learn about the types of data breach claims we could help with:

• This guide explores the topic of email data breaches in more detail.
• See if you could claim for a data breach caused by human error.
• Learn what the time limit is for starting a data breach claim.

External resources:

• This resource helps you understand more about action the ICO has taken.
• Also, you can read tips for staying safe online from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
• Information and support from the mental health charity Mind.

Thank you for reading this guide on how to report a data breach.