Immigration Information Disclosed In A Data Breach – Can I Claim?
By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated March 2024. Immigration information is important to ease the movement of people to a new country. If this information is entangled in a data breach, it can be a troublesome situation, putting further stress on you as you complete the immigration process or afterwards.
This article has been made to demonstrate how a data breach can affect immigration information and the impact it could have on the mental and financial health of the data subject. We will also discuss the ways in which the Data Protection Act 2018 enforces your rights as a data subject.
A guide on what you could do following an immigration information data breach
A data subject is an individual whose personal information is processed. A data controller decides how and why they need to process data subjects’ personal information. And, a data processor is an organisation that processes personal data on behalf of the data controller if the controller so chooses.
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Select A Section
- What Is An Immigration Information Data Breach?
- How An Immigration Data Breach Could Happen
- Report A Breach Of Your Privacy
- How The Victim Of An Immigration Information Data Breach Could Be Compensated
- Examples Of Data Breach Claim Payouts
- Start Your No Win No Fee Immigration Information Data Breach Claim
What Is An Immigration Information Data Breach?
An immigration information data breach involves personal data relating to immigration. It occurs when a security incident leads to the unlawful or accidental loss, disclosure, destruction, alteration of or access to personal data.
It could cause different types of damage or harm, such as financial loss. For example, if a cyberattack has compromised your bank details, you may be at risk of theft. You may also suffer psychological harm after a personal data breach, such as depression, stress or anxiety.
To make a valid claim, you’d need to show that the organisation that was supposed to protect your personal data failed to do so through wrongful conduct. For example, they may not have provided standard online security, meaning that hackers were able to access your personal data.
A time limit is usually in place for personal injury claims. For a personal data breach claim, there is generally a 6-year period to begin the claim. Alternatively, it is a year if a public body is involved.
You can contact us today. Our advisors are able to provide free guidance and advice about your potential claim. If they evaluate your claim and it has a good chance of being successful, they can pass it on to our solicitors.
What Information Could Be Leaked?
Personal information is any information that can be used to identify you. For example, it could include:
- Full name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Phone number
- Passport number
- Ethnicity
This includes any information that you had to disclose to the data controller, such as financial information. Therefore, any form of information you provide could be exposed in a data breach.
To help you understand if you are eligible to make a claim, our advisors are happy to help you.
How An Immigration Data Breach Could Happen?
A data breach could happen in several ways due to a cyber-attack or a non-cyber attack.
Cyber attacks could include:
- Phishing: These attacks involve an unfamiliar link or a convincing email. For example, these can be done through social media by sending out mass amounts of fraudulent emails or messages. Cybercriminals use this method to convince people to send their personal data.
- Malware: This involves installing malicious software in an operating system, denying access to data and threatening to publish or delete personal data unless a ransom is paid.
- Password Attack: These attacks can vary, but the most common is a brute-force attack. It is a program that tries all the possible variations and combinations of passwords.
Non-cyber attacks, on the other hand, could be caused by many factors that may involve human error.
- Email misdelivery: If emails containing personal information are sent to the incorrect email address, then an unauthorised person could access that data. This could lead to data losses and thefts.
- Poor password management: Using weak passwords and using the same passwords across multiple websites or social media sites.
- Inadequate/Delayed Patching: A failure to patch any vulnerabilities in the cyber security system.
Report A Breach Of Your Privacy
To report a breach of your personal data privacy, you may be able to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). To do this, you could follow the below steps.
- You would need to contact the organisation that is responsible for the data breach. This would be if the organisation hadn’t contacted you first.
- If there isn’t any response from the organisation or an inadequate response, then you could, as a last resort, raise a complaint with the ICO.
- However, there is not a requirement to make a complaint to the ICO if you wish to claim. The ICO can’t offer you compensation.
For any further advice on what you can do in a data breach for immigration information, talk to our advisors today. This service is accessible any time day or night, 7 days a week, providing free advice.
How The Victim Of An Immigration Information Data Breach Could Be Compensated?
A data breach victim could be entitled to claim under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The types of compensation that can be awarded to a victim of an immigration information data breach include psychological harm and financial damage.
The value of the compensation would vary depending on the case presented. However, if you are distressed due to a data breach, you could be able to claim compensation. This would be classed as non-material damages. For these types of claims, you may need to undergo a medical assessment to determine the severity of your mental harm. An independent medical professional performs this.
The material damages determine compensation for financial damages you have suffered. For example, see below for the types of data breach claims payouts.
Don’t hesitate to talk to our advisors for more information on how you could be compensated for a data breach.
Examples Of Data Breach Claim Payouts
You could receive two kinds of compensation as part of your data breach claim:
- Material damages are the compensation for the financial harm you could have experienced due to a data breach.
- Non-material damages are the psychological harm that you could have been affected by as a result of the data breach.
After the Court of Appeal heard Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc (2015), the court determined that you can claim non-material damages alone after a personal data breach, even if there aren’t any financial losses. In short, you don’t have to apply for material damages to seek non-material damages. You can claim for them separately or together. Before this case, you would’ve had to claim for financial loss in order to be compensated for psychological harm too.
Additionally, the Judicial College has produced guidelines for compensation. The guidelines go into detail on the different forms of injury you could suffer in an accident. These brackets are created as a baseline for claims and solicitors could use it to create an estimate of what your claim could be worth. These brackets are crafted from previously settled cases at court.
| Forms of Mental Health Issues | Brackets of compensation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Illness: Severe | £54,830 to £115,730 | An immense impact on the daily life of the victim, leading to the inability to function. |
| Mental Illness: Moderately Severe | £19,070 to £54,830 | Substantial issues that have impacted on the person’s ability to carry on with life. |
| Mental Illness : Less Severe | £1,540 to £5,860 | A disability that has affected the quality of sleep and impeded daily activities. |
| Anxiety: Severe | £59,860 to £100,670 | An extensive impact on the individual’s daily life. Impeding the ability of the person to attend work and all forms of life before the accident. |
| Anxiety: Moderately Severe | £23,150 to £59,860 | The overall prognosis of the injury would be more positive than in previous examples. There still will be a larger problem with the ability to deal with life. |
| Anxiety: Moderate | £8,180 to £23,150 | A recovery is made, with some lingering effects, not lead to a disability. |
| Anxiety: Less Severe | £3,950 to £8,180 | A full recovery is achieved but there are some lingering symptoms. |
For a free evaluation of what your claim could be worth, get in touch with our advisors today.
Start Your No Win No Fee Immigration Information Data Breach Claim
If you are eligible to seek compensation for an immigration data breach, you may like to have a solicitor’s support through the legal process. One of our data breach solicitors could help with your claim. Usually, they provide their services under a type of No Win No Fee arrangement called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
If your data breach solicitor works with you under this type of agreement, they generally won’t charge you an upfront fee for their services. They also don’t ask you for any ongoing service fees. Furthermore, if you are not awarded compensation following an unsuccessful claim, they won’t charge for their work on your case.
However, if the outcome of your claim is successful, your solicitor will deduct a success fee out of your award. The amount that can be taken as this fee is a percentage that is legally capped.
To find out if you have valid grounds for a claim, get in touch with one of the advisors from our team. If it seems like you might be eligible for data breach compensation, they could pass you onto one of our solicitors.
To get in touch:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Ask a question in our live chat.
- Contact us for a call back.
Find Out More About Immigration Data Breach Claims
We have collected a range of guides and articles for you to read through to help you know what to look out for when it comes to data breaches and the ways in which data breaches can happen for immigration information.
Additionally, the ICO has a wide range of helpful guides, including how to report a data breach, make a complaint, and how to minimise the risk of a future data breach.
There are a number of guides we have created on what you can do if you have been involved in a data breach.
However, we also have articles on lost and stolen devices in data breach claims and if you can claim compensation for a passport data breach.
In conclusion, if you have any burning questions about a data breach that involves immigration information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our advisors are happy to assist you with your inquiries.
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