A North-West law firm says it is being inundated with clients signing up to a class action claim against South Staffs Water after the company experienced a major data breach for which they have recently accepted liability for.
Barings Law has signed almost 1000 claimants whose personal information, including bank details, were potentially leaked on the dark web during the cyber-attack affecting one of the main water suppliers in the Midlands.
The company, which provides services to residential and business customers in Staffordshire, parts of the West Midlands and Cambridge, was targeted by hackers in 2022.
It is believed cyber criminals could have potentially gained access to peoples’ names, addresses, sort codes and account numbers used for direct debit payments.
Barings Law alleges that South Staffs Water failed to adequately protect the personal data of its customers.
The company has recently accepted liability for the breach.
Head of data breach at the law firm, Adnan Malik, said: “This cyber-attack has exposed a significant number of individuals to potential risks and damages.
“Our clients are seeking not only financial compensation but also accountability from South Staffs Water for the lapses in data protection.
“We are regularly fielding enquiries from the public who are concerned they may have been victims of this terrible incident.”
The breach was first announced in August 2022 when the water supplier said it had been the victim of a cyber-attack following some disruption to its corporate IT network.
Parent company, South Staffordshire plc, serves more than 1.7 million people, but it is unclear how many of those have been affected.
South Staffs Water has been informing some of its clients of the personal data which could have been affected and has issued an apology to all those impacted.
Since the incident, the water supplier has revealed it has supplemented previous existing measures with additional security tools for better protection.
Mr Malik added: “This data breach is a serious infringement of privacy rights, and we will robustly pursue justice on behalf of the claimants to ensure that they receive fair compensation for the potential repercussions of this breach.
“Barings Law remains committed to championing the rights of those affected and holding accountable any entity that neglects its responsibility to protect sensitive data.”
