Learn How To Report A Data Breach

You may have been aware that your personal data has been breached until you started receiving suspicious emails or text messages. Following this, you may feel stressed and anxious, as well as wonder how your personal data was breached in the first place. Due to this, you may also be wondering how to report a data breach.

Key Takeaways

• You could report a data breach directly to the organisation should you discover one.
• Your report should discuss what information was compromised and how you discovered the breach.
• If you report a data breach to the organisation, they have an obligation to respond.
• Should they fail to do so in a satisfactory manner, you can elevate your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• Our data breach solicitors provide expert legal representation to eligible claimants through a type of No Win No Fee agreement, which avoids the need for upfront or ongoing solicitors’ fees.

Additionally, if your personal data has been breached, and this has caused you psychological or emotional harm, we may be able to help you make a claim for data breach compensation. To learn how we could help you, contact our friendly advisory team today:

• Fill out our contact us form and submit an online enquiry.
• Call us on 0800 073 8804
• Ask a question through the chat option below for an immediate response from a real person.

How To Report A Data Breach

If you discover your personal data has been involved in a breach, there are several steps that you can take to report a data breach.:

• Firstly, identify what data was breached and take measures to contain the spread. You can do this by changing passwords, leaving websites or disconnecting from networks. 
• Collect details about the breach as you uncover them. This includes the date and time you noticed the data breach, what personal data of yours was impacted (such as your home address, phone number, email address, etc.) and how this has emotionally and financially impacted you.
• Contact the organisation or business directly to report a data breach. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (an independent authority that enforces data protection laws) provide detailed information on how to make a complaint to an organisation about how they are handling your information.

Any reports you make to an organisation about a data breach could also be used as evidence when making a compensation claim. For more advice on how to report a data breach to an organisation, you can contact our advisors.

Requesting A Response From The Organisation Responsible

After reporting a data breach to an organisation, you can also request the company to respond to you regarding the following:

• What personal data was impacted?
• How did the data breach occur?
• What steps are they taking to mitigate the impact of the breach?
• What steps and protocols are being put in place to prevent a similar breach from happening again?

You should give the organisation one month to respond to your complaint about data use. It might take a while for them to deal with the issue, so don’t hesitate to politely chase them up.

They must also report a data breach to the individuals if the data breach may impact their rights and freedoms without undue delay.

Also, at any point, you can consult a solicitor on how to sue a company that breached your personal data. Contact our advisors today to see how one of our solicitors may be able to help you.

Reporting To The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

If you fail to get a satisfactory response to your concern, you can raise the issue with the ICO. The ICO are able to investigate breaches and fine organisations that have not adhered to data protection laws. They are not able to award compensation.

Wait no longer than 3 months since the last meaningful contact with the organisation responsible for the breach before making a complaint to the ICO.

The ICO give guidance on making a complaint here. It’s important to:

• Attach a clear and concise copy of the complaint you made to the organisation.
• A letter of consent if you are complaining on behalf of someone else.
• Include an email address or contact details for the organisation.
• Provide a timeline of key events related to your complaint.
• Offer any other supporting information that might help the ICO determine whether to investigate. For example, a copy of a breached email, screenshots of inaccurate information or any letter of apology from the organisation.
• Organisations have 72 hours to report all data breaches to the ICO. 

If you are still unsure how to report a data breach to the ICO or whether you may also be eligible to make a compensation claim, you can contact our advisors.

Seeking Legal Advice After A Data Breach

You might also want to seek legal advice after a data breach. There may be far-reaching financial and psychological impacts after a serious data breach. By seeking legal advice from one of our solicitors, they could not only help assess whether you may be eligible to make a claim for compensation but also ensure that both of these types of harm are financially compensated, should you have a valid claim.

If you would like more information on how to report a data breach or how one of out solicitors could help you, please contact our advisors.

Why Choose Legal Expert?

There are numerous good reasons for choosing to put your claim in the hands of our solicitors. Legal Expert has helped secure over £90 million in compensation for their clients across a wide range of claim areas, including data breaches. If they can take up the case, you’ll benefit from:

• An accurate assessment of what compensation could be owed to you.
• Help to understand legal terminology and the data breach claims process.
• Expert negotiation with the other side to secure the best settlement for you.
• Help to collect supporting evidence that your data was shared without consent or otherwise misused.
• All deadlines and court instructions have been taken care of.
• Organising any therapy you may need for the psychological harm you have suffered.

Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA)

Our solicitors offer legal representation through a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). When working under this No Win No Fee arrangement, there are no initial solicitor’s fees to pay for them to begin working on your case. Also, no solicitor’s fees need to be paid as work on your claim goes forward.

Claims that settle in your favour require a success fee to be paid to the solicitor. This is a percentage deduction from the compensation. The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 limits the percentage that this fee can be. So you can always expect to benefit first and foremost if the claim succeeds. If the claim fails, there are no solicitor’s fees that need to be paid for the finished work on the claim.

Contact Details For Our No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitors

Knowing how to report a data breach is the first step. However, claims like this can become complex. It’s a good idea to see whether you could benefit from a professional’s help. Take a moment to speak to our advisory team now about our data breach solicitors and how they could help you.

• Fill out our contact us form and submit an online enquiry.
• Call us on 0800 073 8804
• Ask a question through the chat option below for an immediate response from a real person.

More Information

Additional data breach compensation claims guides:

• This guide looks at how to sue someone for disclosing personal data about you.
• Here we explore whether your family can claim after personal data has been breached.
• Also, read about claims after a medical data breach.

Additional resources:

• Here are some helpful top tips for staying secure online from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
• Read statistics from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025.
• Also, you can learn more about the UK’s data protection legislation here.

We hope that this guide has explained how to report a data breach claim, but if you need any further assistance, please reach out.