Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
What is This Claim About?
The British Dental Association discovered a data breach on 30 July 2020. A cyber attacker accessed the BDA’s server and accessed the private personal and financial data of members and patients. It is unknown who the hacker is, and the details of exactly what information was violated are yet to be announced.
An investigation into the BDA data breach is ongoing.
Who’s Eligible?
You may qualify to join the BDA data breach group action if you are a member or patient of the British Dental Association and you were notified by the organisation that your data may have been accessed.
How Much Compensation Will I Receive?
If the BDA data breach group action succeeds, qualified claimants will receive compensation, although the amount is yet to be determined by the courts.
How Do I Join?
If you are interested in joining the BDA data breach group action, contact one of the following law firms to find out how you can file a claim:
CEL Solicitors
HNK Solicitors
Keller | Lenkner
More law firms may be added.
On 30 July, the British Dental Association (BDA) was the target of a cyberattack that violated the private data of BDA members and dental patients and a group action claim against the organisation has been initiated.
Sensitive private information, including case notes, contact information and banking details, may have been accessed in the BDA data breach. After it was discovered that a hacker was able to compromise the organisation’s server in the BDA data breach, those involved in the breach were notified.
In its email notification, the BDA wrote it was possible that dental patients had their insurance claims and case information retrieved in the BDA data breach.
To complicate matters, the BDA allegedly backtracked on the message and said the information logs accessed in the BDA data breach were not dental patient records, but instead were in relation to trade union work.
According to the BDA, no complete patient records are kept on their server.
Although the BDA has reported that the data breach occurred, there has not been a detailed account of what personal information has been violated in the attack.
While the specifics of the BDA data breach remain vague, an open group action has commenced on behalf of all the members and patients affected.
The BDA should have contacted all who might have had their private details accessed in the BDA data breach.
The investigation is ongoing, and there has not been information released about who the cyber attacker was or the precise details of the violated patient information.
The investigation into the BDA data breach should yield more details, but in the meantime, members of the BDA need to be careful about possible scams taking advantage of their personal or financial information.
Although the BDA reported they have not stored debit card information, members and patients should remain cautious and on the lookout for scams.
One anonymous dentist affected by the BDA data breach told the BBC they were worried about scammers having possession of banking details.
“If the hackers have access to my business name, address and bank details, along with my own personal details, it could be enough to pull off a huge identity theft scam,” the dentist told the BBC.
The dentist continued: “If that happens, I may not be able to pay my staff — and at a time when we have all been working so hard to keep the practice up and running for patients during COVID-19.”
Lawyers are keeping an eye on the BDA data breach investigation, eager for more information.
According to Keller Lenkner, one law firm representing claimants in the group action, bank account information may be a part of the breach, although nothing is known for certain.
Lawyers fighting for privacy rights of those affected in the BDA data breach believe the cyberattack would not have happened if the organisation had vigorous security processes to guard important private data, including contact information, banking details or dental case notes.
Lawyers believe the BDA should be held accountable for the data breach and the harm it has caused patients and members of the organisation.
The BDA noted the government’s privacy guidelines are in place to protect individuals from having their data stolen.
“General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR) makes organisations more accountable in the way that they collect, use, store and dispose of personal information and gives individuals more control over information about them that they pass onto others,” the organisation wrote on its website.
