Bangor University Data Breach Compensation Claims Experts

100% No Win, No Fee Claims
Nothing to pay if you lose.

  • Free legal advice from a friendly solicitor.
  • Specialist solicitors with up to 30 years experience
  • Find out if you can claim compensation Call 0800 073 8804

Start My Claim Online

 

Bangor University Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – How Much Compensation Can I Claim? – Amounts For Bangor University Data Breach

How Do I Make A Data Breach Claim Against Bangor University?

If you’ve suffered financially because of a Bangor University data breach, you may already be aware that you could seek data breach compensation. But, did you know you could also make data breach claims against the University if you’ve suffered emotional distress because of a data breach, provided you can prove the breach and harm caused?

Having personal data breached, whether due to employee error, ransomware, data theft or a cyber attack on the university could cause you to lose sleep or suffer anxiety and stress. If it has, as well as claiming for any financial damages suffered, you could also claim for the cost to your mental health.

Bangor University data breach claims guideThis guide has been created to help those who’ve been harmed by a Bangor University data breach to get the compensation they deserve.

In the sections below, we’ll explain what responsibilities Bangor University has towards the security of your personal data and what laws protect you. We’ll also explain what types of incidents could lead to a data breach claim against a university and how we could help you if you’ve been affected.

If you’d like to begin a claim or ask us any questions about making such claims, you can call our expert advisors for free on 0800 073 8804.

Select A Section

A Guide To Data Breach Claims Against Bangor University?

Have you suffered financial harm due to a Bangor University data breach, or has your mental health been affected by the thought of how someone could use data that has been lost or stolen in a data breach incident? If so, you could make a university data breach claim if Bangor University has breached data protection laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Data Protection Act 2018.

Below, we explain what could constitute a Bangor University data breach and how it could affect you. We also give information relating to how common cybersecurity incidents are within UK universities as well as giving you some examples of how such incidents occur.

In addition to this, you will find details of how to go about making a claim for a data breach that has caused you harm, and how we could help you.

What Is A Data Breach Claim Against Bangor University?

Like many large organisations, Bangor University processes and holds data about Bangor University alumni, staff and current students. And, like all organisations that store and process data, it has a responsibility to do so according to the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR. But sometimes things could go wrong, and your personal data could be breached. If this happens, it could lead to:

  • Theft – If someone has enough of your personal information, they could access your accounts and take your money. They could also make fraudulent purchases using your details.
  • Identity fraud – It could be possible for someone with enough data about you to apply for finance in your name
  • Loss of privacy – Someone could find out information about you that you didn’t want them to know
  • Emotional harm – You may suffer a loss of sleep worrying about the breach of your personal data, and it could cause you stress and anxiety.

How Could A Bangor University Breach Happen?

A data breach could occur if, by accidental or deliberate means, there is a loss of availability of data, or it is lost or stolen. A breach could also happen if your personal data is subject to unauthorised access, transmission, alteration, processing, disclosure or storage. Events that could cause this to happen could include:

  • A Bangor University hack – where someone is able to hack into the computer system and obtain data held on it.
  • A cyber attack on Bangor University – if someone were to launch a Bangor University cyber attack, they could disable the computers, steal personal data or even use the breached computers to launch further attacks. They could do so using malware, phishing or ransomware, for example.
  • Employee error – If an employee is not up to date with Bangor University data protection policy, they could accidentally allow your data to be breached. Incidents involving employee errors could include sending your details to someone without your authorisation, or not updating your data when they should have done so, leading to correspondence being sent to the wrong address, for example.
  • Viruses – where a program inserts code into an ‘infected’ computer or computer system.
  • Negligent maintenance of computer systems – this could lead to loss of your personal data, for example.

If Bangor University has breached GDPR or the Data Protection Act, and your personal data has been breached as a result, you could claim compensation for the harm it has caused you as long as you can prove the breach and harm caused. The compensation you could claim could include material and non-material damages.

How Universities Are Affected By The GDPR

GDPR, as the world’s most stringent data security and privacy law, affects any organisation that stores and processes the data of EU subjects. Universities are bound to abide by the 7 principles of GDPR, which are:

  • Accountability – controllers/processors should be compliant with the below principles.
  • Integrity & confidentiality – The confidentiality and integrity of data should be maintained, which can be done using encryption and two-factor authorisation, for example.
  • Accuracy – data should be updated regularly to ensure accuracy.
  • Minimisation – controllers/processors should ensure that the minimum amount of data is collected and stored for its purpose.
  • Storage limitation – collected and stored data must only be kept for the minimum time necessary.
  • Purpose limitation – the collection or storage of data must be for legitimate purposes, and the subject should be made aware of what the purpose is
  • Fairness, lawfulness and transparency – all processing and storage should be done fairly and lawfully and the controller/processor should be transparent with data subjects

If you believe a Bangor University data breach has broken data protection law, and you can prove both the breach and resulting harm, you could claim compensation. We’d be happy to provide you with a lawyer to help you make such a claim.

How Have Universities Been Affected By Data Breaches And Crimes?

You may be interested to learn that there was a ransomware university cyber attack in 2020 on the personal data held by 8 UK universities. According to reports, the database provider Blackbaud paid a ransom to the perpetrator and was confident that the data stolen in the attack was destroyed. However, the Blackbaud hack led to the personal details of alumni, staff and students being accessed unlawfully.

The personal details accessed included the title, name, date of birth, gender, address and contact details of students, staff and alumni, which could all be valuable information if it fell into the wrong hands.

You may also be interested to read that the Information Commissioner’s Office (who enforces data protection laws), issued a fine to the University of Greenwich in 2018 for breaching the personal data of almost 20,000 people, including staff and students. The ICO found that the university had breached the Data Protection Act 1998, which has now been replaced by the Data Protection Act 2018, to bring it into line with GDPR. The fine issued was £120,000.

Source: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/2018/05/the-university-of-greenwich-fined-120-000-by-information-commissioner-for-serious-security-breach/

How Many Universities Have Been Affected By Data Breaches?

While we have already given a few examples of universities being affected by data breaches, according to a report by IT Governance, 54% of universities in the UK reported data breaches to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in 2018/19.

A study found that 46% of university staff had not received training on security awareness, which could represent a big risk when it comes to data security within universities across the UK.

In addition to this, cybersecurity tests that were conducted on UK universities by University internet services provider Jisc in 2019 and highlighted the insecurity of some universities’ computer systems. In the study, testers were able to access over 50 universities’ data in under 2 hours.

Source: https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/54-of-universities-reported-a-data-breach-in-the-past-year

Online Data Thefts Affecting Universities

There are several ways in which online data thefts could affect universities. As we have mentioned, a Bangor University data breach could lead to fines from the ICO, and it could also lead to those who have had their data breached claiming compensation from the University if they can show they have been harmed by such a breach. But these are not the only consequences of a university data breach. A data breach could also lead to:

  • Damaging public perception – if people do not feel the university has a robust data security history, they may decide against going there. This could result in a loss of funding.
  • Research material exposed – universities conduct huge amounts of research and development work. If sensitive material is not secure, this could lead to theft, ransom attacks, loss or alteration of important research

How Universities Could Improve Security?

There are many different ways in which a university could ensure it provides protection for the data it processes and stores. These could include:

  • Ensuring they have specialists engaged in data security planning
  • Ensuring staff are fully trained in data security awareness
  • Ensuring computer systems are kept secure, and the security provision is regularly updated
  • Having a robust data security policy

How Could I Be Compensated If Affected By Data Breach?

There are a variety of ways in which you could be compensated in data breach claims against Bangor University. If, for example, you had suffered financial harm due to a Bangor University data breach, the impact of the financial harm could be calculated. As well as this, you could claim for loss of privacy and emotional distress.

Claiming For Emotional Distress Caused By A Breach Of Personal Data

In some cases, having your data breached could cause you to lose sleep, and suffer anxiety and stress. If this is the case, there is legal precedent that allows you to claim for the effects on your psychological health. The legal precedent we refer to was set in Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc [2015] – Court of Appeal, where the judge said that in cases where a data breach caused psychological harm, personal injury compensation could be considered.

Bangor University Data Breach Claims Calculator

Whether you’ve suffered a Bangor University breach due to a cyberattack, a hacking or for any other breach by Bangor University of GDPR, if it has caused you emotional distress, you could claim compensation.

The way in which emotional distress claims are calculated is by reviewing all the facts of the case, and this includes medical evidence too. You’d need to see an independent medic when making these claims and undergo a medical assessment. The medic would review your notes and speak to you about your suffering. They could use the information gained at this assessment to write a report which details your prognosis and psychological injury. This could be used to work out how much compensation could be appropriate for your claim.

To illustrate how much compensation you could be eligible for, we’ve used some figures from a publication called the Judicial College Guidelines. This could give you an idea of how much compensation could be appropriate for different levels of psychological injury.

Edit
Injuries Judicial College Guidelines Bracket Effects/Notes
Severe psychiatric injury £51,460 to £108,620 A marked impact on the affected person’s ability to cope with life in general, specifically with regards to education, work and relationships. The impact of any treatment sought would be assessed.
Moderately severe psychiatric injury £17,900 to £51,460 Similar effects to the bracket above, but with a more positive prognosis than above.
Moderate psychiatric injury £5,500 to £17,900 Similar effects to the above bracket but the affected person would have significantly improved by the time of a trial or resolution of the claim. They would have a good prognosis.
Less severe psychiatric injury Up to £5,500 The impact on the affected person’s sleep and ability to carry out usual daily activities would be assessed, as well as how severe the injury was and how long the person had suffered.
Severe PTSD £56,180 to £94,470 Every aspect of the affected person’s life would be impacted and the impact would be permanent. They would be no way for the person to function as they did prior to the injury.
Moderately severe PTSD £21,730 to £56,180 With some professional assistance, the affected person would have a better prognosis that those in the most severe cases. However, for the foreseeable future, there would be significant disabilities.
Moderate PTSD £7,680 to £21,730 The affected person would have largely recovered with no grossly disabling continuing effects.
Less severe PTSD Up to £7,680 The affected person would have almost fully recovered within the space of one or two years.

How Could A Data Breach Solicitor Help You

You might wish to go ahead and make a complaint directly to the Bangor University data protection officer for a data breach or report them to the Information Commissioner’s Office if they fail to respond in a satisfactory manner. However, you may prefer to get assistance from a lawyer when making a claim for a data breach by Bangor University as there are certain benefits to doing so.

  • A lawyer could help take on the hard work of building a strong case for compensation
  • They could ensure you were claiming within the time limit relevant to your case (6 years for data breaches, 1 year if your human rights have been breached)
  • They could ensure that you don’t miss out on any type of compensation you could be eligible to claim
  • They could negotiate with the university for the maximum compensation possible for your case

Finding A Solicitor To Help You With A Bangor University Data Breach Claim

If you would like legal assistance with making a claim, we’d be happy to provide you with a knowledgeable solicitor. Here at Legal Expert, we’ve spent many years helping claimants to get the compensation they deserve for a huge variety of different cases. All of our lawyers work under No Win No Fee payment arrangements, which means you don’t have to pay them to start your claim. And they come highly recommended too – as you’ll be able to see from our reviews.

When you call us to discuss claiming for a data breach by Bangor University, we’ll take some details, assess your case and tell you how we could help you. If we believe you could have a valid claim, we could provide a lawyer to help you. We’re also happy to answer any questions about the claims process too.

No Win No Fee Bangor University Data Breach Compensation Claims

Whether you’ve been affected by the Blackbaud hack or are looking to make data breach claims against Bangor University that relate to other data security incidents, you might be looking for legal help. As we mentioned, there are various benefits to using a lawyer when launching a Bangor university data breach claim. However, you may not want to pay upfront to be able to access legal assistance.

If this is the case, you may be pleased to hear that all Legal Expert solicitors work under No Win No Fee terms. This means you would not pay them anything at all until such time as your claim was completed and your compensation had been paid out. This is how these claims work:

  • You’d agree to pay your solicitor a success fee if they achieved a settlement for you by signing a Conditional Fee Agreement. You might be interested to know that success fees are legally capped and represent a small percentage of your total payout.
  • Once the agreement was signed, your solicitor would build your case and negotiate compensation on your behalf.
  • If they achieve a settlement for you, the success fee would be deducted from your payout.
  • If they don’t achieve a payout for you, you don’t pay the success fee, and you don’t have to cover their costs either.

To learn more about No Win No Fee claims, why not take a look at the resources section of this guide, where you’ll find a detailed guide to making claims under these payment terms. If you have any questions about No Win No Fee claims or would like to begin a claim for a Bangor University data breach with one of our No Win No Fee lawyers, simply call our team and we’ll be glad to help you.

Discuss Your Claim With Us

If you’ve suffered material or non-material harm from a Bangor University data breach, we’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. We could also provide you with a free eligibility check to see if you could be eligible to claim compensation. If we think your claim could result in compensation, we could provide you with a lawyer to help you begin your claim. To get in touch with us, simply:

We are here to help, whenever you’re ready to get in touch.

Related Guides And Services

Data Breach Claims – General Guidance– The general guide we have created relating to data breach claims might prove useful to you if you’ve suffered a data breach.

Conditional Fee Agreements Explained – No Win No Fee claims information is included within this guide.

Data Breach By A Credit Card Company– If a credit card company has breached your data, this guide could be useful to you.

Usage Of Data – This ICO article explains more about how your data could be used.

Actions Taken By The ICO – Enforcement actions taken by the ICO relating to data breaches can be found here.

Actions To Take For Breaches Of Data– Organisations who have had a potential data breach can find out what to do here.

Other Useful Compensation Guides

Guide by Jeffries

Edited by Billing

    Contact Us

    Fill in your details below for a free callback

    Trustpilot

    Meet The Team

    • Patrick Mallon

      Patrick is a Grade A solicitor having qualified in 2005. He's an an expert in accident at work and public liability claims and is currently our head of the EL/PL department. Get in touch today for free to see how we can help you.

      View all posts

    Our Top Legal Guides