Best Connection Data Breach – Who Could Make A Claim?

This is a guide to the steps you could take if your personal data were to be involved in a Best Connection data breach. If your person data is compromised, it could cause you to suffer from psychological damage and/or monetary losses. This could form the grounds of a compensation claim. 

The two central pieces of legislation that lay out the responsibilities of those in charge of the processing of your personal data are the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). In this guide, we will look at who is responsible for protecting your personal data and the eligibility criteria that must be met for you to have an eligible claim.    

Best Connection data breach

Best Connection Data Breach – Who Could Make A Claim?

Moving through this guide, we will then discuss the evidence you could use to support your claim. Lastly, we will explore the potential benefits of working with No Win No Fee solicitors. 

If at any time you would like to speak to one of the advisors from our team to discuss your potential personal data breach claim, please get in touch using the contact details below. Our team is available 24/7 to give you free and confidential advice. 

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Select A Section

  1. Best Connection Data Breach – Am I Eligible To Claim Compensation
  2. What Are Cyber And Non-Cyber Data Breaches? 
  3. Evidence Supporting Data Breach Claims
  4. Examples Of Payouts For Injuries Caused By Data Breaches
  5. Could I Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor For A Best Connection Data Breach
  6. Talk To Us If Your Personal Information Is Affected By A Best Connection Data Breach

Best Connection Data Breach – Am I Eligible To Claim Compensation

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent body in the UK that upholds information rights. They set out the responsibilities that data controllers and processors have when handling your personal data. Firstly, data controllers are the parties that determine the purpose and means of processing personal data. Secondly, controllers can appoint data processors to process personal data on their behalf.

Furthermore, we will also refer to the information provided by the ICO to define personal data breaches. This definition is as follows: 

  • A personal data breach is a breach of security causing the unlawful or accidental loss, alteration, destruction, unauthorised access to, or unauthorised disclosure of, personal data.

The eligibility requirements that must be met for a personal data breach claim to be considered potentially eligible are as follows:

  • Firstly, the data controller or processor must have failed to properly comply with data protection laws. 
  • Secondly, this leads to a breach involving your personal data. 
  • Finally, due to this breach, you suffer monetary losses and/or psychological damage. 

To make a personal data breach claim, you also need to ensure that your claim is begun within the relevant time limits. This is generally six years, but this will be reduced to one year if the claim is against a public body. 

What Is Personal Data?

In Article 4 of the UK GDPR, personal data is defined as information that can be used to identify a person either independently or alongside other information. This can include the following:

  • Your name
  • Date of birth
  • Home address
  • Email address
  • Phone number

There is also an additional type of personal data called special category data, which is explained in Article 9 of the UK GDPR. This requires extra protection due to the information’s sensitive nature. This can include personal data relating to the following: 

  • The subject’s health, such as medical information
  • A person’s racial or ethnic origin
  • A person’s sexuality

If you’d like to know what steps you could take if your personal data were to be involved in a potential Best Connection data breach, please discuss this with a member of our team. 

What Are Cyber Attacks And Human Error Data Breaches? 

A personal data breach could be caused by human error, or it could be the result of a cyber attack by someone with malicious intentions. We will provide some examples below of how these kinds of data breaches could occur. 

Human error: 

  • A letter containing your personal data is sent to the incorrect recipient. 
  • An error is made when a group email is sent out, and the failure to use the BCC function exposes your email address to the other recipients of the email, non of whom have the authorisation to view it. 

Cyber attacks: 

  • There is no security protecting an online database containing personal data. Criminals perform a cyber attack and access the data for financial gain. 
  • A ransomware attack prevents a data controller from accessing the personal data they hold.

Do you have clear evidence that your personal data has been involved in a Best Connection data breach? Contact our advisors the discuss your potential next steps. 

Evidence Supporting Data Breach Claims

If you have suffered psychological damage and/or financial losses as a result of a personal data breach and your case meets the eligibility criteria outlined above, it is important that you can provide evidence to support your case. 

If a breach has placed your rights and freedoms at risk, the data controller must report this to the ICO within 72 hours of discovery and to you without undue delay. You can take the following steps if you suspect a breach has occurred, but you have not been notified, as well as if you’ve been told about a breach involving your personal data. 

Firstly, contact the organisation directly. Any correspondence, for example, letters and emails, could then be used as evidence for your claim. 

Secondly, following an unsatisfactory response, you could report the breach to the ICO. Although they do not award compensation, they could investigate the breach, and any findings that support your claim could be used as evidence. 

If you have evidence that your personal data has been involved in a Best Connection data breach, please contact our team for the next steps that you could take.

Examples Of Payouts For Injuries Caused By Data Breaches

The two potential types of damage that you could receive a compensation award for in a successful personal data breach claim are material damage and/or non-material damage.

Firstly, material damage is the financial losses that you suffered as a result of the personal data breach. This could cover damage to your credit score or money stolen from your bank accounts due to identity theft. 

Secondly, non-material damage is the psychological harm caused by a personal data breach, for example, anxiety, stress, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

We used the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to create the following table as a guide to compensation brackets for various non-material damage. Personal data breach solicitors may use the JCG as an aid when valuing a personal data breach claim.

Guideline Compensation Table

Harm Type SeverityDetailsCompensation Bracket Guidelines
Psychological Damage Generally(a) SevereA very poor prognosis and marked problems coping with daily life.£54,830 to £115,730
Psychological Damage Generally(b) Moderately SevereA much more positive prognosis than above but still significant problems coping with daily life. £19,070 to £54,830
Psychological Damage Generally(c) ModerateA marked improvement by trial and a good prognosis. £5,860 to £19,070
Psychological Damage Generally(d) Less Severe This bracket considers the time frame that the period of disability lasted and to what extent sleep and daily life were affected. £1,540 to £5,860
PTSD(a) SeverePermanent effects stop the person from functioning at any level close to the one they did prior to the trauma. £59,860 to £100,670
PTSD(b) Moderately SevereDiffering from the above bracket is the better prognosis for some recovery with professional assistance. £23,150 to £59,860
PTSD(c) ModerateA large recovery is made. Continuing effects are not grossly disabling.£8,180 to £23,150
PTSD(d) Less Severe Within the passing of 1-2 years, a virtually full recovery is made. Persisting symptoms will be minor. £3,950 to £8,180

This table is a guide. If you would like to discuss the potential personal data breach compensation settlement that you could be eligible to receive, please speak to a member of our team. 

Could I Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor For A Best Connection Data Breach

When pursuing personal data breach compensation, you may choose to work with a solicitor, who could offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis. A popular type of these agreements, which our panel of solicitors at Legal Helpline can offer, is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).  

This could have the following potential benefits for you and your personal data breach claim:

  • Firstly, you would not be expected to pay upfront or ongoing fees for the services that your No Win No Fee solicitor provides. 
  • Secondly, you generally wouldn’t make payments at any time for your solicitor’s services in the case that your personal data breach claim fails. 
  • Thirdly, in the event that your claim resolves successfully, your solicitor can take a small amount from the compensation. This success fee is a percentage that the law caps.

Get in touch with our team for an evaluation of the eligibility of your personal data breach claim. Should they find that you may have valid grounds to pursue compensation, they could connect you with one of the No Win No Fee personal data breach solicitors from our panel. 

Contact Us

Would you like to enquire about the steps you could take if your personal information were to be involved in a Best Connection data breach? Speak to one of our advisors today. 

You can:

Talk To Us If Your Personal Information Is Affected By A Best Connection Data Breach

Please explore more of the articles on our website to learn more about the action you could take following a personal data breach: 

Also, find out more by looking at the following external sources: 

Thank you for reading through this guide on the steps you could take if your personal data has been involved in a Best Connection data breach. If you would like to make an enquiry, please use the contact details provided above.

Written by JO

Edited by FS