Actions for Data breaches are something a novel cause of action in Irish Law. The possibility of bringing such an action has existed for many years, but the grounds from bringing such a case was quite restrictive. The GDPR changed this position, and this, along with massive proliferation in data collection has meant an inevitable growth in claims being brough when things go wrong.
In May 2021 it became known that a data breach had occurred on HSE IT systems. The scale of the breach was unclear at the start,but it has since become quickly eviden than the personal details of most service users of the HSE has been exfiltrated by “hackers”, and the entire Irish Heath System disrupted. It is almost unquestionably the biggest Ransomware or hacking event that has occurred in the World and is a truly exceptional event; the consequences of which we have not grasped as yet. The purpose of this document is to give people information about their legal rights following the attack on the HSE IT Systems.
On the 17th May 2021 we first published a short blog post on our website stating that people adversely affected by the hacking event may be entitled to claim compensation. This drew a strong reaction from the Minister for Health who accused law firms of “potentially licking their lips at the thought of being able to sue the State”, and that any effort to sue the state should be regarded as “distasteful”. Further discussions on various media outlets indicated as a high a level of ignorance of Data Protection law as that exhibited by the Minister.
This firm responded in an appropriate manner to the outrageous comments of the Minister, and we further note the Law Society of Ireland further called on the Minister to apologise to the profession as a whole. Such an apology has not been forthcoming at the time of writing. Despite the Ministers comments, (and a certain amount of hate directed towards us, which thankfully pales in comparison to the supportive comments received both publicly and privately), it is our view that as Solicitors with particular expertise in the area of Data Protection is it our duty to inform and assist members of the public in understanding the Law as it applies to this incident in as fair and impartial a manner as possible. This duty is thrown into sharper relief when it appears that neither the HSE nor Minister for Health appeared to be aware of the rights enjoyed by Data Subjects at the commencement of this debacle.
At this point we can say with certainty that a great many people have state able claims which can be made against the HSE for the events that occurred, and we are inviting people who are worried about the consequences of this data breach to contact us.
HSE Data Breach – September Update (is the truth starting to come out?)
On the 15th May 2021 the Data Protection Officer (DPO) for the HSE made a data breach notification to the Data Protection Commission. In that notification he said that a day earlier the HSE suffered a data security breach of its IT systems. After some difficulty we have obtained the official data breach notification pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. In the notification to the Data Protection Commission the stark facts were set out bluntly; approximately 4.9 million people had been affected by the breach, and the data disclosed to certain nefarious actors included Data Subject Identity [...]
HSE Cyber Attack – July Update
It remains something of a surprise to us that there has been so little media coverage of late of the HSE Cyber Attack. Almost two months has now passed since the hacking incident and it appears that health services are still greatly affected and the Health Service Executive remains remarkably reticent to say what happened. They are even slower to say what is being done to remediate matters. We have spoken to a great many people about their experiences since the Cyber attack, and the following seems to be current position: Health Services From a health care point [...]
HSE Cyber Attack – A guide to the Law
Following from our blog post this day last week two things became immediately obvious; firstly people were very interested in the issue, and secondly, no one really understood the Law surrounding the GDPR, and the potential exposure the HSE has created for the Irish State. We have now written as well researched and cited a guide on the law as we possibly can given the time frame allowed. We will convert this into a HTML page in due course, but for now it may be downloaded here. As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you [...]
HSE Cyber Attack – Open Letter to Minister Donnelly
Mondays blog post generated quite a response. Although we were not named by Minister Donnelly, we must assume we (and no doubt other colleagues) were being referred to on the 20th May in his Newstalk interview (HSE cyber attack: 'Distasteful' legal firms 'licking their lips' at thoughts of suing State | Newstalk) We were afforded the right of reply, which we did this morning (Solicitor 'astounded' at Donnelly claim lawyers licking lips over HSE cyber attack | Newstalk). We have now taken it upon ourselves to send an open letter to Mr. Donnelly, calling on him to inform [...]
HSE Cyber Attack
As experts in Data Protection we have got numerous phone calls in the past few days in relation to the HSE Cyber Attack. Many people are genuinely worried what the implication of this attack are for them. For now, it is too early to say with any degree of certainty, but as time passes the true cost and implications of this attack will become clear. It appears at this stage that hackers have got access to certain health data relating to individuals. How they got his would be speculation at this stage, however the very fact the HSE [...]