Personal Data: Do You Know Your Rights?

How much do you know about personal data and your legal rights?

According to recent research by security software company, Egress, only 67% of UK consumers are aware that they have the right to take legal action against an organisation who exposes their personal data in a data breach.

The survey also found that 47% of UK consumers said they would join a class-action lawsuit against an organisation who had leaked their data.

Because of this, 91% of organisations are using cyber insurance to protect themselves against class action and GDPR fines.

If your data’s been breached and you’d like to find out more about making a claim for compensation, get in touch with our Data Breach Solicitors for a free case assessment.

Class Action and GDPR Explained

You’ve probably already noticed a few changes since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in 2016 – such as emails from organisations about how they’ll handle your data and pop-ups asking for your permission to use cookies when you go on certain websites.

GDPR was added to the Data Protection Act 2018, which sets out strict rules that organisations must follow when handling personal data.

Personal data is any sensitive information that can be used to identify a person, including details such as their:

• Name
• Contact details
• Addresses
• Bank details

Organisations must make sure that any personal data they hold is kept secure and only for as long as necessary. It must also only be used for specified, lawful purposes.

If an organisation breaches GDPR and a customer’s personal data is put at risk, the company could face lawful action being taken against them.

We’re beginning to see a rise in class action cases being brought against organisations accused of breaching GDPR, with recent examples including Google and TikTok.

A class action claim is when someone brings a claim on behalf of what can be up to millions of people. To meet the requirements, all claimants must have experienced the exact same wrongdoing in the same way.

In England and Wales, class action data breach claims usually work on an ‘opt-in’ basis, meaning that anyone wanting to join the claim must actively opt in.

Current Data Breach Claims we’re supporting with

How Do I Claim Data Breach Compensation?

Whether you’ve been contacted directly to say that your data’s been breached by an organisation, or you’ve seen that they’ve been involved in a data breach, you might be eligible to make a claim.

You can use our free data breach checker or speak to one of our specialist Data Breach Solicitors to check your eligibility. We’ll look at your case in detail and tell you if you’ve got strong grounds for making a claim. If we take on your case, we’ll walk you through the process from start to finish.

We can often handle these data breach compensation claims on a No Win, No Fee basis – ask us about this when you get in touch.

Simpson Millar Solicitors are a national law firm with over 500 staff and offices in Billingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Catterick, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester.