South Staffordshire Water Data Breach - Make a Claim
South Staffordshire PLC have written to current and former employees to confirm that personal data has been compromised following a cyber-attack against subsidiary company South Staffordshire Water.
In August, South Staffordshire Water issued a statement to confirm that they had been the victim of a criminal cyber-attack.
“We are experiencing disruption to our corporate IT network and our teams are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.” The statement read. “It is important to stress that our customer service teams are operating as usual.
“We are working closely with the relevant government and regulatory authorities and will keep them, as well as our customers, updated as our investigations continue.”
This statement was published after a ransomware group claimed responsibility for hacking into a different water company’s network. Though the group mistakenly claimed to have hacked into Thames Water, the statement from South Staffordshire Water, and subsequent communications, indicates the ransomware group were mistaken.
The group released what appear to be stolen identification documents to prove their involvement, demanding extortion payment to prevent the release of stolen data. It is understood that the data has been subsequently posted to the dark web.
South Staffordshire Water has begun to contact individuals who have been affected by the breach, informing them of the risk their data may be misused.
Initial investigations from South Staffordshire Water indicate that payroll data, such as names, bank account details and driving licences are likely to have been impacted.
South Staffordshire Water claims to be continuing to assess the full extent of the data impacted, which means there may be additional information belonging to employees which may be affected.
If you have been contacted by South Staffordshire Water to confirm that your data has been compromised in the breach, or you have reason to believe that this is the case, you may be in a position to claim compensation.
At Hayes Connor, our team of data breach solicitors are ready to provide expert support and guidance on the claims process. To find out more about how you can make a data breach claim, please get in touch.
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