On 19th August we experienced a data privacy breach that affected a small number of individuals' data. All individuals affected have been contacted directly to notify them of the situation.
What happened?
On 19th of August 2024, at around 10:52 an email was sent by an unknown person or organisation who was able to edit rules within the mailbox to propagate a spam email generating from the address [email protected]. This email was sent to those held in the contacts of this mailbox which was made up of 257 email addresses including internal staff, obsolete emails and contacts of the member of staff. The mail was successfully delivered to 236 email addresses but was subsequently recalled where possible.
We have no reason to believe any data except the email contacts was compromised and urge you not to open any strange emails received. All access was removed within minutes and the email account disabled. The password was reset after 6 hours of inactivity while our software provider investigated the situation. Their findings suggest that no files, confidential data or stored emails were accessed at any time.
What information was affected?
Based on our investigation, we understand that your personal information that has been affected by this incident includes:
Email address
What have we done in response to the breach?
We will be updating our software systems to further increase security, and we will be reviewing our GDPR training requirements for staff. We are in contact with the ICO and have reported the incident. What does this mean for you?
You should carefully review the information that was affected by this incident and think about whether this could result in you experiencing any harm. Some of the steps you may consider taking to protect yourself include:
Be aware of emails from people requesting your personal details, (especially things like your date of birth, residential address, email address, username or passwords which are often used to verify your identity).
Change your email account password if you have clicked on any links.
More information and making a complaint
We would like to take this opportunity to apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you have any concerns about what has happened or would like further information, or if you are not satisfied with how we have handled this incident or you have experienced some harm as a result, you can make a privacy complaint. You can do so by contacting us by email at [email protected]