The National Cyber Security Centre has issued a specific alert to higher education institutions after a recent spike in attacks. In particular, both Northumbria and Newcastle Universities have come under attack in the last few weeks. These attacks come at the most critical time in the academic year, as universities recruit new students and prepare […]
A number of prominent UK universities are amongst hundreds of organisations globally whose data has been stolen in a ransomware attack on cloud-computing provider Blackbaud. Remarkably, it has emerged that Blackbaud was attacked back in May but waited two months to inform its users. It has also emerged that they paid an undisclosed ransom in
Blackbaud Ransomware Attack – UK Universities and Others Affected Read More »
The BBC have published a fascinating birds-eye view of a ransomware attack at the University of California San Francisco this week. Acting on a tip-off, the BBC were able to follow the on-line ransom negotiations as they happened, culminating in the payment of $1.14m. We can only speculate, but the willingness of the university to
There are many interesting lessons to learn in the unfolding saga at on-line sports retailer Wiggle… Customers first started raising concerns over two weeks ago about orders being placed on their Wiggle accounts (and payments taken) without their knowledge. Some people also reported that they had been locked out of their accounts. The company’s initial
Wiggle – When is a Data Breach not a Data Breach? Read More »
We blogged back in January about how GDPR fines were starting to bite. Now, drawing on data from GDPR Enforcement Tracker, we take a first look at the fines that have been issued under GDPR specifically for data breaches. The database lists 70 fines related to data breaches, ranging in value from €300 to €10m.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only person to be somewhat surprised at the news that Baroness Dido Harding has been appointed to oversee the implementation of the new NHS Covid-19 app. Rightly or wrongly, she will always be associated with the massive data breach at TalkTalk in October 2015 and has received significant criticism for
Given the heightened risk of cyber incidents in the current Covid-19 crisis, it seems timely to look at the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2020 published recently by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Now in its fifth year the survey looks at UK businesses, charities and, for the first time, educational establishments. In
Understandably we are all focused on the growing threat of coronavirus; but that doesn’t mean that other risks have gone away. In particular this week we saw announcements of high-profile data breaches at Network Rail and Virgin Media. On Monday it emerged that the email addresses and travel details of about 10,000 people who used
High Profile Data Breaches at Virgin Media and Network Rail Read More »
A report published recently by DLA Piper looks at the impact of GDPR, 18 months on from coming into force across the EU. So far 160 000 breaches have been reported, including: 40 000 in the Netherlands; 37 000 in Germany; and 22 000 in the UK. The report states that the fines imposed to
