Barings Law has launched a lawsuit against Capita
Manchester-based Barings Law is working on behalf of 250 people who suspect their data may have been compromised by the breach at Capita. Local councils and members of the public are among the 30-40 people contacting the firm every day about the breach, it reports.
From its investigations, Barings Law believes people’s personal information, including passport details, e-mail and home addresses, could have been breached. Victims have also reported unauthorised banking activity, such as takeaway orders being placed on their accounts.
“This could be one of the biggest data breaches this country has ever experienced,” says Adnan Malik, Barings Law’s head of data breach.
Malik added: “We’re receiving a staggering number of enquiries which is why we’ve officially launched legal action. The number of clients we’re signing up is growing every day, which shows how big this is. A lot of people who have been paying into their pension for years are really worried they’ll have nothing when they retire.
“The hackers have their home addresses, email addresses telephone numbers and even the amount of money they have in their pension pots. They have everything they need to gain access to accounts so it’s a very serious situation.”
Barings Law has written to Capita outlining its clients’ concerns and its case.
In a written update released soon after the data breach, Capita said: “Capita has continued to work closely and at speed with specialist advisers and forensic experts to investigate and resolve the cyber incident.
“As noted previously, the unauthorised intrusion was interrupted by Capita which resulted in the impact of the attack being significantly restricted. Capita understands now, based on its own forensic work and that of its third-party providers, that some data was exfiltrated from less than 0.1% of its server estate. Capita has taken extensive steps to recover and secure the customer, supplier and colleague data contained within the impacted server estate, and to remediate any issues arising from the incident.
“Capita expects to incur exceptional costs of approximately £15m to £20m associated with the cyber incident, comprising specialist professional fees, recovery and remediation costs and investment to reinforce Capita’s cyber security environment. Capita has also taken further steps to ensure the integrity, safety and security of its IT infrastructure to underpin its ongoing client service commitments.”
