• Experienced team of data breach solicitors
• Record of successful claims on behalf of private individuals, PSNI officers and government employees.
• Free, no-obligation legal advice on your claim

What is a data breach?

A data breach is any exposure of sensitive or confidential information to someone who shouldn’t have had access to it. No matter whether the breach was deliberate or accidental, if you’re in the distressing or even dangerous position of being the victim of a data breach, you’re eligible to make a data breach claim.

There are many different types of data breaches, including:

• Police Data Breach – Data breaches involving police forces not protecting data correctly. Examples include the PSNI data breach of police officers’ details and Norfolk and Suffolk police’s mishandling of sensitive data about victims of crime, witnesses and suspects. Previous historical examples include the Castlereagh Break in cases involving personal data being breached.
• Financial Data Breach – When banks and financial services companies expose their customers’ financial data or personal information, either due to hacking or human error. This creates a risk of financial loss as well as distress for victims.
• Medical Data Breach – NHS, Health and Social Care trusts or other healthcare providers sharing patient details or medical records without consent. This could be due to a cybersecurity breach, human error or misuse of records.
• Private Company Data Breach – When personal data is lost by any company that has been entrusted to protect it. This could be due to hacking, human error or poor data protection processes. British Airways, Marriott Hotels and TikTok are among the companies fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office for data protection breaches.

What is a Data Breach Claim?

A data breach claim is a compensation claim you make against a person, business or organisation that exposed your personal information to people who should not have been given access to that information.

These claims are sometimes referred to as GDPR claims or data protection claims since the Data Protection Act 2018 is the legislation covering the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) data protection laws in Northern Ireland and the UK. Data breach claims arise when a person or organisation fails to meet their obligations under that legislation.

If you’ve been the victim of a data breach due to a deliberate act or negligence, you’re entitled to make a data breach claim in Northern Ireland.

To be eligible for a data protection claim your personal data must have been:

• Hacked, misused, lost, leaked or released to a non-related party without your consent in another way
• Breached due to a deliberate act or negligence because the at-fault party failed to keep your data safe and secure
• Breached within the last six years (this is the time limit for data breach claims)
• Breached in a way that had an emotional or financial impact on you

Your personal data was breached through no fault of your own. We’ve created a simple and straightforward data breach claim process that helps you to claim the compensation you’re entitled to without further disruption to your life.

Step 1: Contact Reid Black
Get in touch for a no-obligation consultation and free initial legal advice on your data breach claim.

Step 2: Gather Information
We’ll help you to gather information that demonstrates you were the victim of a data breach and the impact this has had on you.

Step 3: Assessing Evidence
Next, we will look at all of the evidence that shows you were the victim of a data breach and the distress it caused you.

Step 4: Compensation Negotiations
On the strength of that evidence, we will enter negotiations with the person or organisation responsible to secure the maximum data breach compensation to which you’re entitled.

Step 5: Compensation Payout
We continue to support you until the money you’re owed is safely in your account.

You can claim data breach compensation in Northern Ireland if you’ve suffered damage as a result of a person or organisation breaking data protection law. You can claim GDPR compensation for both material damage (like losing money) and non-material damage (such as suffering distress).

The amount of data breach compensation you get will depend on the severity of the data breach and its consequences on your life. Some data breach compensation estimates are:

• Minor Personal Data – A breach of your name, date of birth, home address and email address: £1,000 – £2,000
• Medical Information – A breach of your medical records or other medical information: £2,000 – £5,000
• Financial Information – A breach or theft of your financial information: £3,000 – £7,000
• Significant Personal Data – A breach that causes serious financial problems or other catastrophic circumstances: £8,600 to £25,700

We’ve been helping clients to claim compensation from businesses and public bodies in Northern Ireland since 1993. This includes a strong record of making successful claims on behalf of PSNI officers and military personnel on a range of issues arising from their employment. Our data protection team’s vast knowledge of GDPR claims makes us ideally suited to act as your solicitor for data breach claims in Northern Ireland.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re feeling the emotional or financial impact of someone’s failure to protect your data, take the first step towards the compensation you deserve today. Get in touch to arrange a no-obligation consultation and free initial legal advice on your data breach claim.