This guide will explore whether revealing your email address is classed as a breach of the data protection laws in place to protect your personal data.
We discuss these laws in further detail later throughout our guide as well as when you could be eligible to claim compensation if they aren’t adhered to and this leads to a breach of your personal data. Also, we explain how an email data breach could occur, and the impact it could have.
Finally, we discuss the advantages of starting a data breach claim for compensation under the terms of a No Win No Fee agreement with one of our data breach solicitors.
For more information, you can:
- Call on 0333 241 2521
- Speak with an advisor via the contact form
Is An Email Address Covered By UK GDPR?
The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) are the laws that outline the responsibilities data controllers, those setting the purpose for processing, and data processors, those acting on the controller’s instruction, have when processing, handling and storing your personal data.
Personal data can include information that can be used to identify you, including your email address. As such, revealing your email address could constitute a breach of the UK GDPR in some instances. Your email address being put at risk could put you at risk of identity theft.
How Do Email Data Breaches Happen?
Personal data breaches can be defined as a security incident that impacts the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of personal data. An example of an email data breach can include:
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Personal data being sent to the wrong email address.
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A cyber-attack due to poor online security systems leading to email addresses being stolen in a ransomware attack.
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Email account login credentials being leaked (often due a data breach elsewhere in which a commonly used password has been leaked).
What Can Be The Impact of Email Data Breaches?
A breach of an email address in itself isn’t always the worst breach that can happen to an individual, but it can sometimes have much bigger consequences, especially if your contact details end up in the hands of someone looking to use those details for other purposes.
At its most basic, a leak of your email address could mean that you end up receiving lots of unwanted direct messages, emails for marketing purposes or spam emails. Some of these emails could be suspicious messages or phishing emails attempting to get you to reveal other details or sensitive information about yourself, which they may then be able to use to compromise your accounts or even commit cyber crime.
If you are someone who typically does not use unique passwords, and have used the same password across multiple accounts, there is the possibility that a previous data breach may have revealed your password. Combining your leaked email address with a previously leaked email address could result in a compromised email account and that could have much greater data protection implications.
If someone has access to your email account, this could potentially put at risk some of your other online accounts, including banking details, giving rise to the potential for financial harm. Additionally, the security of past email communications would be compromised and this could include personal and medical information that could be misused if it falls into the wrong hands.
This is one of the reasons why it is vitally important to use unique strong passwords and update passwords periodically, as well as using further protective security measures like two factor authentication to keep your login details secure.
Can I Claim Compensation For An Email Data Breach?
Central to a having valid grounds as a data subject to claim data breach compensation is being able to prove that:
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Data protection laws weren’t adhered to by the data controller or processor.
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This caused a breach in which your personal data was compromised.
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As a result, this directly causes you to suffer financial and/or emotional harm.
To discuss your specific case and find out whether you could claim compensation following an email address data breach, call an advisor on the number above.
How Long Do I Have To Claim Compensation For An Email Data Breach?
There is a time limit for starting a data breach compensation claim. This means you must typically start any legal action within 6 years. If the claim is against a public body, however, the time limit is reduced to 1 year.
You can discuss the limitation period in more detail by calling the number above. An advisor can provide further guidance on how long you have to start an email data breach claim.
Make A Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis
Following an assessment of your email data breach claim, you could be connected with one of our data breach solicitors who offer a type of No Win No Fee agreement, provided your case is valid.
The contract they offer is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which provides numerous advantages to eligible claimants, such as:
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No need to pay for the solicitor’s work upfront, as the claim moves forward, or if it fails.
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No fees for the solicitor’s services if the claim fails.
A small and legally capped success fee is deducted from the compensation if the claim has a positive outcome. The legal cap on the percentage that can be taken as this fee ensures that you always receive the majority of the awarded compensation.
Our advisors are available to offer you a free eligibility assessment to determine whether a solicitor could assist you in seeking compensation for a data breach. To get in touch, you can:
- Call on 0333 241 2521
- Speak with an advisor via the contact form
