AIBU: my work has hacked and my personal data was taken

[Lisyloo725]

Hi there
My company was hacked just before Easter and today they’ve told me that the following have been taken by the hackers and placed on the dark web:
Full Date of Birth
Full Home address
National Insurance Number
2017/18 salary
Health Insurance Data, including name and date of birth of beneficiaries where applicable

AIBU to go absolutely mental a) at the fact they weren’t as secure as they should have been and b) that they’ve taken over a month to tell me my deets were taken?!?!

Ps. What can a criminal do with this info 😖

Have they reported it to the ico?

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/report-a-breach/

Errr national crime agency involved.

YANBU to "go absolutely mental" but it won't do you any good. Unless you can prove harm (probably financial) you won't realistically have any legal options to take against them.

It's disgraceful that they took so long to tell you - I would suggest you politely discuss this with your manager, any breaches like this need to be reported to those affected immediately.

What can a criminal do? To be honest you're not much more at risk now than you were before. You should take the same precautions that everyone should always be taking:

1. Check your credit report at least monthly, in case someone is trying to apply for credit in your name. Clearscore and others let you do this for free.
2. Be wary of anyone contacting you claiming to be from your bank, or frankly any company/government agency at all, especially if they use the data you specify to "prove" who they are. (HMRC ringing you telling you've overpaid tax in 201/18 and they need your bank account details to repay you, for instance.)
3. Tell your beneficiaries about the breach ASAP too.
4. Change any passwords you use which contain or refer to the data that was leaked, no matter how cryptic you think they are.

It's unlikely but you may get someone trying to blackmail you, saying they'll reveal your salary information and so on. Obviously if this happens don't engage with them - they will try to scare you, but if your info is already on the dark web it's effectively public domain already. Nobody can directly damage you by sharing the data more widely, though it may be embarrassing if people google your salary. (Or, might not be, you might be earning a fortune of course!)

With this last point in mind it might be a good idea to make sure any social media accounts you have are locked down from prying eyes from the general public. Someone who has your leaked data can probably find your Facebook profile for example, and if it is unlocked and visible to all they will be able to mine your data even further.

One piece of comfort: so much stolen data is out there that the chances of a criminal targeting you in a serious way is quite small. Criminals will always go for the easiest target - by following the advice I am giving and using your common sense, you won't be that easy target.

Thanks @skirk64 this is really good advice and calming to read too! Really appreciate it!

OP, do you usually keep a hand on the pulse of your tax affairs? I would definitely register for one. Stolen NI numbers are sometimes used for illegal employment, and the actual NI owner may be none the wiser until the year end. Same with benefits claiming.

Hi @forinborin - what shall I register for??
This is the one thing that does worry me as it’s always a bloody mystery isn’t it - and I’m going on may leave this year (making it more complex) and potentially moving abroad too!! Aaaaaagh.
What do you advise for how I keep a check on it? X